A Story of Kalathanon
by Kalathanon
Summary: The Second book in the Kalathanon Series that started with The Legend of Spyro: The Kalathanon Files.
1. Chapter 1

A Story of Kalathanon

Chapter One: Meet the Crew

Celantra had just finished explaining the relationship between matter and energy and was now allowing for her students to jot down the points she had wrote on the marker board. Celantra was a tall woman, about six-eight, who appeared to be in her late thirties early forties. She had peculiar silver hair that hung down the middle of her back, her eyes also had a hint of the silver in them but for the most part they were blue and seemed to shine with an inner glow. She was well muscled and carried herself with an air of authority her long arms and legs giving anyone that just casually looked at her the feeling that she was always in control. She was wearing a formal white top with black slacks and she wore a tanned leather belt and shoes.

"Mrs. C.," One of her students a young man named Steve asked from behind one of the thirty white topped desks in the middle sized room, "If energy and matter are related so fundamentally then is light both energy and matter?"

"Steve there you go again getting ahead of everyone else," Celantra replied her voice strong and clear with a hint of music in it. Before she could answer the question however, the intercom system crackled to life and Kalathanon, her husband, spoke in his low but commanding voice.

"Would the owner of the black truck parked on deck seven of the parking garage please come to the security desk, thank you."

She sighed to herself K had once again got a hunch that something about this car, which was just one in a long line of suspected cars, was a threat to the security of the campus. The school, aptly named the Dragons of Learning College, was a university for the extremely intelligent or extremely rich and was owned and run by a friend of theirs, James. James had hired on K and C from the start due to their past history along with some of their old war buddies. A stocky built man called Blitz and a slender but deceptively powerful woman called Storm. They like K and C were husband and wife. Xavier was also a friend from their war days he was the head of the health department. He is short only five-five, but he is the best doctor they could hope for and he is wiry instead of bulky.

Putting her thoughts aside Celantra replied to Steve's question. "Light is matter that has become mostly energy. Think of it like a super diluted solution the particles in it are matter and the liquid would be energy. Light, supersaturated in energy acts like both energy and matter. That is why light casts shadows but UV and infrared can go through objects."

Steve was about to reply when the com crackled to life again.

"Students and teachers I must ask you all to go to the safe rooms," James spoke this time his voice deep and clear with a hint of grating on the 's,' "Celantra, your husband requests your presence at the parking garage. That is all."

"Another stupid drill," one of the rich kids, a guy named Thomas, said.

"Not this time," C replied, "Something has got K spooked and that means you all need to get to the safe rooms."

Thomas stared at her with a look of shocked disbelief then nodded as a Young woman named Angle tapped him on the shoulder and got him moving. Steve was already heading up the first batch of students to leave the classroom and the others soon followed, C staying with them until they were safely inside one of the twenty guarded, safe rooms, then she headed for the parking deck.

The safe rooms were a remarkable piece of construction. Designed to survive everything from an asteroid strike and nuclear weapons, to a surgical strike from elite forces, nothing was going to get to the students, teachers, and guards that were in the safe rooms. The parking garage on the other hand was the weakest link in the campus security. At twelve stories tall and covering more than two thousand feet in each direction it was the most vulnerable structure on the five mile campus. Out front of the main entrance waited K.

He was shorter than C only about six foot, but his muscles were more pronounced. He had the same silver hair as C his stopping at his shoulders and his eyes were green with a sliver light that one could sometimes catch sparkling in his eyes. He was in his usual security uniform, all black with his badge on the left pocket just over the heart, black belt with his 9mm and its extra clips, black pants and black, polished shoes. He gave her a smile and a nod as she walked up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What has got you spooked now dear," C asked.

"That car is actually a massive plastic explosive set on a timer," K replied, "I had a team check it out but once we discovered what it was I figured we needed to take care of this one ourselves."

"K, C, glad I was able to join you," James said as he ran up to the pair. The eccentric owner was clad in a black motorcycle helmet with red flames on the front, a black reinforced leather jacket and trousers, gloves and a pair of army boots. He was five-nine and when his face was not covered, which it usually was, he appeared to be young maybe only nineteen or twenty. He had a red and a blue eye, and short cropped hair that stood up from his head with red at its peaks. C knew that despite the outward looks James was one heck of a fighter and commander when it came down to it.

"Got the bomb squad on the way," K asked.

"They will be here but I don't know if it will be in time," James replied.

"Well looks like the party didn't start without us after all," Storm said in her smooth flowing female voice as she and Blitz came up behind the three. Storm was a blond but she preferred to keep her hair in a short manageable cut that gave her the appearance of some exotic bird. She was five-ten and a half with hazel eyes, ebony skin, and was in a white, billowing robe-like garment. They all knew the robe was just a way for her to sneak her favorite weapons into places that would rather they not be there.

Blitz was five eleven, wore a buzz cut, had hazel eyes, and today was clad in a full suit of plate armor. Blitz was the director of P.E. and almost all of his classes involve fighting or weapons training, or fighting styles, thus the plate armor. With out the armor he is just as intimidating. His muscles were rock hard even when relaxed, as he moved his dark skin flowed as those muscles bulged and stretched. He was a good three feet across at the shoulder and built sturdier than a tank. Fortunately he was also the most mild mannered person C and K knew, despite the large ax he constantly carried.

"Ok I'm here you five can now officially go get your selves hurt," Xavier grumbled as he walk over to stand next to C and looked up at the parking deck and tugged at his foot long, gray beard and scowled. His eyes were a gray-blue, his head was crowned in white hair and he all together looked the part of some out of place alchemist from the middle ages, except for his clothing. He wore a white lab coat over his brown 'Kansas Forever' shirt, his blue jeans were visible from underneath the bottom of the coat, and he was wearing sandals.

"Ever the elegant one," Blitz remarked, "K what's the plan?"

"James can't you just contain the explosion with gravity or something," Blitz asked.

"Not really explosions don't rely on gravity, they create a shock wave with or without it."

"Lets just do this the old fashioned way then," Celantra said, "I'll take point."

They entered the bottom level of the garage Celantra leading K right beside her Blitz and Storm were next and James and Xavier were acting as vanguard. They decided to take the stairs instead of the elevators so were forced to jog up nine flights before reaching the level the car-bomb was on. Once on the level the bomb was easy to locate, without the fuzziness of the cameras it was obviously not a car. With all four tires flat, completely blacked out windows, no door handles or doors, it was most likely mistaken by passersby as a science project or prank. Instead it was enough C4 to destroy the entire building. The strange thing is if whoever put it there wanted to destroy the entire building they would have put it lower down….

"K we need to get out of here," C said.

"Just a minute," K said, "Almost there…"

The next second the bomb went off. C heard a deafening thud and saw a blinding flash of light then woke up lying on her back under K and beside Xavier on the campus green that was over a thousand feet away. From somewhere to her left she heard Blitz.

"Unnh, ow that hurt. Is everyone ok? I mean apart from being blown up by a bomb that just left a crater where the parking garage was," Blitz asked.

"I'm fine dear," Storm said.

"Yeah were good," K said as he rolled off C and X pushed himself up.

"Well that won't be good for business," X said, "Not to mention that our equipment is busted and that garage will cost over six-hundred thousand to replace."

"Always the analytical one," James said, "We should see if anyone was hurt."

"X we may need you to you know, heal someone, or several some ones," C said.

"That's fine with me," Xavier replied, "you all were the promoters of not using our powers while we took up this job."

"I'll head over to the safe-houses see if anything happened there," K said, "C you coming with or…"

"I'm with you," C replied.

"Good. Blitz, Storm see what collateral we suffered from the blast, James get in touch with Carter I want to know who planned this, that level of destruction could only have been planned by one of our rivals," K ordered.

James ran off to his office, Blitz and Storm headed for the nearest structures, C fell in behind K as they ran to the safe rooms.

"K, C, I'm glad to see you here," a guard named Armando said as she and K came into view of the first safe room.

"We can say the same," K replied, "anything wrong, anyone missing or hurt?"

"No all who are supposed to be here are here," Armando replied, "but there was a commotion at safe room three."

"We'll head there immediately," C said, "Come on K lets go." Safe room three was where her classes were supposed to go, if there was anything wrong she would make it right.

"K, C," The man, Trent, guarding the safe room acknowledged. Trent was a retired sergeant over the years he had let his hair grow out and he now wore a police uniform but he was still a hard mass of mussel. "We are missing one student, his name is Steve, I think he is one of yours Madam."

"He is," C replied, "What happened?"

"We got to the room but that didn't help us much they were waiting for us," Trent said, "Solders by their bearing and no more than ten of them. They had no identifying colors so I assume it was a mercenary team. When we opened the doors they rushed out grabbed Steve and ran out the back of the building, I'm sorry but they just ran over us all. I started to pursue but when I heard the explosion I headed back here. The others had gotten into the room, apparently at the direction of an Angle and a Thomas, both from Steve's class, and no one else was hurt."

"Thank you Trent," K said, "get the kids and teachers out of here tell them the campus is closed until further notice, and when your done take this and give the guards a blarging good meal, they deserve it." He handed Trent five hundred dollars and clapped him on the shoulder as he and C turned to go find James.

"I'll do that I will," Trent shouted at them as they left, then he pocketed the money and started sending the civilians home.

Character Blitz/Storm

"Blarg, I guess the campus didn't survive as well as I thought," Blitz remarked as he and Storm surveyed a building that most of the top level of the garage had landed on and almost completely demolished. The building was the student center where those who live on campus went to eat and play and just generally relax. It was three stories tall, counting the basement, and was of a circular design. If there was anyone left in it they would have very little hope of getting out from the basement as it only had two exits, both leading to the second floor and the main door to that was crushed under a ton of cement and steel.

"I hope they all made it to the safe rooms in time," Storm said.

"Well if they didn't couldn't you just rewrite history," Blitz asked.

"My talents don't seem to work like that," Storm replied, "Not on such a large scale anyways. Maybe for one person but even then,… to rewrite time it might kill me to do that. Stopping it is easy compared to rewriting even the tiniest portion of it."

"And the last time you stopped time you were in bed for two days," Blitz said, "I know."

"Yeah but I also stopped time for three days then," Storm replied, "So I am becoming strong enough to manipulate time with a lesser effect on me."

They entered the structure and were plunged into the dark, the lights were off.

"Hello," Blitz yelled, "Is anyone in here?"

"Dr. B is that you," A voice replied, "We need help the building collapsed before we could get out we're stuck behind a bunch of rubble that covered the exit from the game room."

"Is that Judy," Storm asked.

"I think so," Blitz replied, "she is in my class this semester."

"Figures she would be here," Storm said, "She never could stay out of trouble."

"We're coming to get you out is anyone with you," Blitz asked.

"Mike and John," Judy replied. Mike was her brother and John was their best friend.

"Ok we are on the other side of the rubble that you are trapped behind," Storm said, it will only be a moment."

Blitz charged up the rubble with some of his power then lifted it and cast it aside revealing the three, dust covered, terrified, students.

"Dr. B, Mrs. Storm, oh thank you I thought we would die in here," Judy exclaimed, "How did you…"

"Magic," Blitz said, "Were you the only ones in here?"

"No we were the first to head out from the food court," John replied, "the others were not as lucky the roof came down behind us trapping them in from this way I hope they tried to get out the back fire escape, but there was all this screaming then nothing."

"Maybe they got out," Blitz said.

"If they did then not all of them I swear I heard someone moving around on the other side trying to find a way into here. We called out but no response," Mike said.

"Get behind us," Storm said, "Dear?"

Blitz lifted and moved the rubble blocking off the hall that the three kids came from. The first thing that hit him was the smell of blood. "That is not good."

"Oh they can't be all dead," Mike said then he gagged as the stench hit him.

Blitz and Storm recognized the new smell immediately, they had worked closely with several who reeked of the dead or undead, in fact they actually were undead for several of them. But most undead were not nearly as friendly. Storm closed her eyes and bowed her head, Blitz shook his to clear it.

"Ugh what is that smell," Judy asked, "Wait what's that noise?"

Storm looked up, Blitz drew his ax, and from the hall shambled a figure. It was most definitely dead, its chest partly crushed and one arm missing, but it still headed for them. Judy screamed and the undead turned towards her its maw gaping open in the anticipation of warm, fresh meat. Then it collapsed as Blitz's ax severed its head from its body.

"Judy, Mike, John. Get out of here Inform K and C that we are facing undead in the student center," Blitz ordered, "I'll block off the entrance behind you so these creatures can't get out."

The three ran out as fast as they could and Blitz piled the rubble in front of the doors behind them.

"Undead, Oh those poor kids," Storm said then with a sigh, "Lets go see if there are any survivors."

They entered the hallway Blitz in front and Storm behind him. Due to the lack of light Storm resorted to her electrical power to generate a sphere that lit up the hall for thirty feet in all directions. The hall appeared empty except for the rubble, but looking closer they could make out abandoned body parts littering the edges of the rubble, the only signs that the undead roamed the now deadly building.

"I'm not sure how sound this building is," Blitz said, "Let's move quickly."

"Right behind you," Storm replied as they wound their way through the halls. They started heading for the upper levels first, what was left of them, and from there worked their way down. They had cleared the first and second floors, the second floor being the one they entered through, without further encounter with the undead. As they approached the west stairwell that allowed access to the basement, and the food court, they once again picked up the smell of the undead, only this time it was accompanied by the smell of a poison that only came from the corpses of the undead. To humans it rendered them either unconscious or sapped their strength so they could no longer fight the ghouls, to Blitz and Storm it just smelled worse than the undead usually did. With a wave of his hand Blitz dispersed the poison, rendering it harmless to anyone who might still be in the vicinity. Then they heard someone screaming from down the stairs, followed by gunshots and the roar of the undead. They wasted no time in getting down the stairs and emerged into the third floor just as five undead finished tearing away the last pieces of a barricade behind which were four retreating figures, three more students and a security guard. There were corpses lying around the barricade from where the guard's pistol had taken its toll on the creatures.

"You'll not take us you hell-spawn," The guard yelled as he fired four more shots into the undead. One dropped but the other four continued. The guard was apparently out of ammo as he discarded his gun and pulled out his baton and prepared for the end. Then lightning ripped through two or the undead as Blitz brought his ax through another and crushed the last with a fist of rock he launched from the haft. He briefly wondered what he must have looked like to these four desperate people. Clad in gory plate armor, hefting a massive ax, and bathed in the sporadic light from the two electrified corpses as they sparked off the extra voltage from Storm's attack, he must have looked like death itself come to claim them.

"Blitz, Storm, is that you?" the guard asked, "I thought we were done for."

"Gary," Storm asked, "What are you doing here I thought you patrolled the west wing of the library?"

"I do but I figured I'd grab some dinner with my kids before I went on duty," Gary replied indicating the three other people in the room. "Tom, Brent, Suzan, this is Blitz and Storm, they are friends of mine."

"And have been my teachers before," Tom replied, "Mrs. Storm, Dr. B, What did you just do and how did you even get in here, we tried to leave but all the exits were block. Did you bring a crew to clear the building?"

"Ah yes Tom," Storm said, "never mind that you were just attacked by undead, just go ahead and start asking questions, such a curious mind. No we did not bring a crew its just us, as for what we did to the undead, well we're magical like that. Gary you other two they are younger correct not in college yet?"

"Aye, I thought they would like to go eat with their brother but had I know about these things I would never have brought them. Do you think they will be alright?" Gary asked as he coaxed his daughter out from a table she had taken refuge under.

Blitz shook his head, "I don't know, kids are resilient but she is what only thirteen, fourteen, and Brent how old are you?"

"Si-sixteen sir," Brent said.

"Hum well he's still talking that is a good sign," Storm said encouragingly. "Suzan how about it going to tell us your age?"

Suzan stared at them for a moment then muttered, "eleven."

"It will be alright sweetie," Gary said as he drew her into a hug. Just a little more and we'll be out of this."

"I'm not so sure about that," Tom said, "listen I hear movement on the other side of the kitchen doors."

Blitz and Storm listened for the sound and caught a grinding grating sound that was getting closer. "Get behind us," Blitz said as he and Storm moved closer to the door. The grating sound resounded again and sparks shown through the round glass windows in the doors. A cry echoed from within the kitchen that seared their ears and a creature burst through the doors. The golem was comprised of bones and bone fragments, which is probably why it took so long to assemble itself, the grating came from kitchen cleavers that it had grown into the tips of its two feeler like arms and its twitching tail. It stood on four legs but had two arms as well and it had a head with one blood red orb shining from the center of seven skulls, the same red energy held the entire beast together. It released another cry them charged at Storm.

Blitz lunged into its path but too late it knocked Storm into a table with a swipe of its feelers and causing two reddening cuts to appear on her white robe. Blitz slammed into the golem before it could push its attack. Smashing it with the flat of his ax he sent a shower of bone fragments flying away from the creature only to have them relocate back into its body. A bolt of lightning hit in from the side as Storm got to her feet on top of the table. It swished at her with its tail, missing by a few scant millimeters but giving her time to charge up a larger blast. This one knocked the golem to its knees. Blitz took full advantage of the opening and struck at its multi-faced head, knocking away one skull then another. As he sent each skull flying Storm would explode it with a lightning bolt. As the last skull was dispersed as dust on the ground the undead construct collapsed the bones spilling out from its body as the magic holding it together vanished.

"Now its over," Blitz said turning back to Gary. Sometime during the fighting Suzan must have fainted because Gary and Tom were laying her out on a table, Brent just stood in the center of the dinning hall and stared through the corpse of the golem.

"That makes twenty," Storm said.

"What," Blitz asked.

"Thirteen walking corpses and seven skeletons to make the golem twenty dead," Storm clarified.

"And one missing," K added as he and C walked down the stairs, "Gary I'm sorry that your kids had to witness this."

"One missing," Storm asked, "Who?"

"Steve," Celantra replied, "Taken by someone we believe it was they who set up the bomb and more than likely the necromancy that caused these undead."

"So we are done hiding then," Blitz asked, "Time to call Carter?"

"Already done," Xavier said as he walked into the room, "James wants to see you and I need to look at that girl."

Character Carter

"Sir got a message for you from a James, uh no last name given."

"Thank you Ron, I'll take in here."

"As you wish."

Carter sat behind his desk at Leviathan Enterprises, his personal mercenary group and to the rest or the world a home security firm. He was a powerful person in a powerful position and with some very powerful friends, he also looked the part. Dressed in his tan suit with his red tie and brown fedora, the six foot eight, by two and a half foot man, with the brown eyes, brown hair combed to the side, a hawk-beak nose and a disarming smile that he could summon at will caused a stir in any room. Not to mention hid his real identity from just about everyone. There were a few heads of state that knew him for what he was and a few special forces men who now worked for him, and his friends at the Dragons of Learning College one of which now awaited his response on the phone line. He pick it up, "Leviathan Enterprises, this is Carter."

"Carter its James, we got a problem. Some mercenary group was hired to bomb our College and we are dealing with undead and a missing student, the time for secrecy has passed K wants you and your men to track down whoever is behind this however you can. He has already granted you full access to the cameras and security devices do what you need to, I got to go."

James hung up and Carter replaced the phone on its receptacle. Bombs, mercenaries, undead, and a kidnapping from the most secure facility in the world, that required a good bit of magic. "Ron pull up the security info from the Dragons of Learning College," Carter said into the intercom, also I want the fourth squad prepped for deployment, I'll be accompanying them."

"Yes sir," Ron replied, "Sending you the info now, Squad Four will be ready to depart in thirty."

"Thank you Ron, oh and its time for that promotion you've been waiting for, I'm retiring, you're the new CEO, and that is on the record."

"It's been an honor sir," Ron replied, "Don't get killed."

The com went off as the information from K's security devices were displayed on the computer screen. "Display on projector two," Carter said to the voice activated command menu. The shutters closed plunging the room into twilight as the projector fired up displaying the video recordings of the past hour at the College. He first vied the footage from the bomb site, the garage clever. Nothing too special there, just a bunch of C4 and a relatively weak structure, scattering debris across a large area. Next he vied the footage from the site of the undead, the Student center made perfect sense it would have the most people in at any given time. What he could see was just people evacuating the building then nothing once the power blacked out. As he figured those wouldn't give him much to go on as to who might be behind the attacks, which is why he left the video of the hallway outside the safe room for last. The main camera had been disabled by the intruders but a secondary camera had activated when the main was cut off. It too was quickly deactivated but not before it caught a glimpse of the leading mercenary. He was clad in a blue and white vest, the distinctive mark of a group that calls themselves The Vengeance. While effective as a mercenary group they had no magical association, he could go and ask his 'friends' in The Vengeance who hired them however, but that could wait until after he went to see the College for himself.

He arrived only two hours later as he and Four exited the privatized, customized, Boeing 747. Carter had it armored up, added four extra engines, sixteen anti-missile flare tubes, two torpedo tubes, six .50 cal. machine guns, four ATA/ATG rockets, and a kick blarg radio that was currently playing "Sweet Home Alabama." He also had it painted blue on the bottom and white on the top. He was especially proud of the radio's crystal clear sound even over the engines, and the way the paint scheme prevented it from being picked up by cameras or pilots. The men from the squad remained beside the Boeing, which he liked to call Bertha, while he walked out to meet James and friends.

While technically K was the leader, Carter connected better with James and it was James who greeted him as he disembarked from Bertha.

"Carter its been to long," James said, "I just wish that circumstances didn't have to be so catastrophic to get you down here."

"Just following the plan," Carter replied, "So what is this about undead and kidnapping?"

"Pretty much exactly what it sounds like," James replied, "Some one hired or organized a group that was specialized enough to break down our defenses, has necromancy magic available to them, and kidnapped a student named Steve, C is not taking that to well he was in her class. I sent you everything we knew what are you doing down here exactly?"

"I figured I would take a look at the undead bodies personally seeing as without our 'friends' here my power is the closest thing we have to true necromancy," Carter replied, "Personally I just don't get down here enough anymore, so I am here in part to see you all considering you were just exploded by a literal car bomb."

"Well thanks for your concern but I would prefer we actually get doing something instead of just investigating and exchanging pleasantries," James replied.

Carter chuckled, "Good to see some things never change, see that is why I went into the Information gathering business instead of you."

"Good thing to I would have bashed every head in Washington by now," James replied, "Not to mention several other countries' capitals. In here the Student Center was the heart of the undead outbreak."

The reek of the undead rolled over Carter and rolled off him just as quickly, he had dealt with many undead before. The corpses were basically what he expected from a low to mid-grade necromancer. Shambling frames unable to recover their lost body parts, a distinctive hollowness about their gaping jaws and eyes that even in their return to death portrayed their hunger for living flesh, and rapid decay of the bodies after undeath.

"Not to bad for an acolyte," Carter remarked.

"He also summoned a bone golem this way," James replied.

As they continued through the halls Carter picked up more signs of necromancy, bone dust, blood, and magic that was left over from the spell. It was a faint tingling that he could feel in the air that alerted him to the fact that the spell was not over.

"James, there is some thing else going on here, I can still feel the spell working."

"Then we need to find out what it is doing," James replied as he led the way into the dinning hall. "Oh that."

In front of them stood a monstrosity of bone and dead bodies. The flesh golem was ten feet tall and composed of any parts that it could find amongst the rubble melded with any metal it could find. Without a noise it rushed them in a blur of metal edges, bone spikes and fleshy hammers. James held up a hand and stopped the creature in its tracks, having increased the gravity affecting it to over a thousand percent.

"You want to inspect this thing before I crush it," he asked.

"If you could keep it still, yes I would like to look at it," Carter replied, "This is not what I expected from a necromancer only capable of summoning second class undead. I mean this is truly a masterpiece of necromancy. The melding of the metal, bone, and flesh in perfect symmetry this is almost on the level of… well no 'She' is much more masterful but still this is very good. Ok you can crush it now."

James did so by closing his hand causing the gravity field to collapse around the monster reducing it to a tiny size. "That felt good," James said, "So who do you think is responsible?"

"Well unless a rouge necromancer of almost master rank has clawed his way out of insanity or under a rock which is entirely possible there are only three with such power. Helda, Tyler and Joe, I'll see about arranging an audience with them to see if they had enchanted any weapons or were hired for any spell casting recently. If they had known any of their work would be directed against here they would have quickly turned the creator of the idea into a zombie slave or worse."

"Why do you believe that," James asked as they wound their way out of the ruined building.

"Because if they were even suspected in attacking this place they know I would wipe them from the planet," Carter replied without hesitation, "Later James say hi to the others for me sorry to play and run but I have necromancers to scare."

"But you only just got here," James protested, "K will have my head if you just leave without him being able to speak with you."

"Yeah well have fun with that," Carter replied as he got into Bertha, the sound of "Carry on my Wayward Son" playing in the background, "Tell him I'll give him a ring." With a salute to James he vanished back into the plane and started her up. "Four we're moving out I need to go see some old friends of sorts were heading to Orlando. We might be there a few days so enjoy yourselves this may be the last time you get to for a long time."

"Urah," Vince, their captain, replied. "Boys we are going to the beach."

With almost perfect timing "Soak up the Sun" came on the radio, and the entire group started singing along even Carter joined in. He had to admit that even though they could lose their lives at any point these men knew how to live in the moment and enjoy life while they had it, he had trained them well.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Dragons, Necromancers, and Mercenaries

Character Kalathanon

"Ok so Carter is on his way to see the necromancers," K repeated to James as he was told how the meeting with Carter went.

"Yes," James replied, "Hopefully he will find something."

"He probably already knows more than he told us," K replied, "Knowing him as I do that would not surprise me."

"Its times like these that I wish the rest of DC was still here," James said.

"If they were we would be to noticeable," K replied, "Its better this way, trust me."

"I do, don't doubt that," James said, "Still don't tell me you don't miss them."

K nodded then replied, "Yeah I do their like kids to me, considering C and I Don't have any, not after..."

"I know I'm sorry," James added, "But here you two are fulfilling everything we expected you to when we voted for you, I did you know."

"Yeah I do," K replied then with a sigh, "Its time to drop this charade." K rose up into the air and released the spell that was holding James, C, Blitz, Storm, Xavier, and Carter in their human forms then he focused his power on his own body and morphed back into his Half-form. A form that is a dragon but stands on two legs, and has a general body structure of a human, plus fifteen feet tall, a tail and huge wings. Two swords of pure white energy erupted out of his hands as he clinched them into fists. No more was he K the security head, he had once again taken up the mantle of Kalathanon the King of the Leviathans. James was next to him now restored to his draconic form he took up a good part of the campus green. He was thirty feet tall and one-hundred feet long with a twelve-hundred foot wingspan, he was now a dark black with red strips running through him. He had four horns two coming out of the top of his head and two coming out of the sides of his head.

K was now fifteen feet tall with a wingspan of one-hundred and eighty feet. Each wing had six joints and when they were folded up collapsed into themselves six times as they flattened down onto the Leviathans' backs. K was a bright green like jade with eyes of white flame, the same as the swords that were protruding from his hands. His tail was ten feet long and his legs were six feet tall. His reach from shoulder to hand was also six feet. His torso completed most of the remaining height being seven feet tall and his neck and head were a total of two feet and a ring of horns flowed from his head and fell to his shoulders like hair would on a human.

Celantra erupted out of a building with a happy roar, destroying the structure and shaking the ground when she landed. In an instant she was on top of K and had him wrapped in a giant bear hug.

"Ah, hey let go C, I'm happy to see you back to your old self," K gasped as the force of C's hug crushed the air out of his lungs.

"Sorry," C replied letting go, "Its just soooo good to be back in my normal form."

C was now a good bit larger than even James, probably a good one third bigger. She was white with scales as clear as diamond that reflected the sun's light casting a rainbow of colors in all directions. Her eyes were diamonds literally, her wings were a film of crystal-like membranes. The rest of her body was still flesh and blood the crystal part was a left over from an... 'event.'

Another building crumbled to dust as Blitz and Storm burst into view. Blitz and Storm were both only half the size of James. Blitz was brown with a gray-green underbelly, two tan horns that spiraled out of his head, and hazel eyes. Storm was yellow with a green underbelly and wings and three white horns. One sprouted from the top of her head the other two curled around her neck. Xavier smashed his way out of a third building leaving a gaping hole in its front. He was larger than either Blitz or Storm, but not as big as James. He was a silver color and had four horns two at the tip of his snout and two at the top of his head.

"K nice remodeling, I like the horns," Xavier said.

"I thought you would they remind me of the beard," K replied.

"Hahaha, you would," Xavier replied.

"Ok boys stop playing around and lets go," Storm said as she stared them down.

Looking into Storm's eyes even K had to look away for all the years he had lived it was still to much to look into time through those spiraling portals. Xavier also winced at her stare.

"Thanks Storm," Celantra said, "I could see those two going on for another hour, now Carter was headed to see his necromancer friends right?"

"Yes," James replied "and they live in Orlando."

Character Carter

"Whoa, K not now," Carter yelled, as he started to change back into his dragon form. "Vince, take the controls whatever happens get us put down safely."

"Sure thing boss you ok," Vince replied.

"I'll be fine if I can get into the hold," Carter replied as he dashed out of the door into the cabin and raced for the stairs to the hold of Bertha. He flung himself in as he changed into his dragon form barely avoiding smashing open the top of the cabin.

"Wow, boss, this is huge." a man named Carl said from the open door way back up into the plane.

Carter raised his head to look at Carl, he was a deep blood red, with black spikes coming out from everywhere, his eyes were pure black orbs that drilled into Carl's head as the man stood before him. Carl swallowed hard when Carter's wings tried to open up only to knock the plane around.

"Blarg it K," Carter snarled, "Couldn't wait until I landed could you."

"Uh, I'll head back to see how Vince is handling the plane," Carl said.

"Sure go, Ah whoo this is going to be tight," Carter replied, "Sorry Bertha."

"Hey there hot stuff," Came an all to familiar voice from the door that Carl just left.

"Cloak not now," Carter said.

"What I don't get to become a dragon too," Cloak replied as she walked down and jumped from the third step onto Carter's head. "You know that is totally unfair, how am I supposed to get you into bed now?"

"Get a larger bed," Carter snarled.

"Your fear stuff doesn't work on me," Cloak replied as she patted him on the snout, "I always though you were to good to be true turns out you were, though I am sure I could still make it work mind you, I just doubt that you would care for a human as a wife."

"Uhn, Cloak does nothing ever bother you," Carter said with a sigh, "I've know that you have been after me ever since I had you join my squad."

"Then why did you keep me in the squad," Cloak replied.

"Because your the only one who doesn't cower around me, even the others show slight signs of fear but not you."

"That's because I love you," Cloak said evenly, "even when you look like a devil's nightmare, what the blarg are you?"

"I'm complicated, and large, and, and, oh heck, I'm a Leviathan," Carter replied.

"Nice name sounds important," Cloak admitted.

"Would you get off my nose," Carter said.

"Oh sure," Cloak answered as she walked along his neck and sat down between two spikes on his back.

"I meant off me," Carter added.

"Sorry no can do your just too much," Cloak said, "I think I'll stay here until we land."

Carter sighed and curled up to sleep until Vince got Bertha on the ground in the Orlando airport, it would make for one heck of a scene him getting off a plane like this.

Character Xavier

"So we are just going to land next to Carter's plane in the middle of the biggest air port in Florida," Xavier yelled to K as they winged their way towards Orlando.

"Yup that's the plan," K yelled back.

"I hate your plans," Xavier replied, "they are to embarrassing or awkward. Not to mention down right dangerous!"

"Stop acting like your my father I'm over a google years older than you," K retorted.

"Children settle down," C intervened cutting off the conversation.

Xavier huffed and continued following the elder dragons.

"Look there is Bertha," James shouted back at them, "Looks like she is having some weight issues with Carter now returned to his normal state."

"Lets help her get settled back onto the ground," Xavier said, "Orlando air port coming into view now."

Storm got up under one wing of the struggling craft and Blitz was under the other, together they lowered the plane onto an air strip to the amazed faces of everyone at the airport.

Character Carter

"Boss we hit turbulence," Vince's voice crackled through over the radio, "I don't think we are going to make this."

"We'll make it," Carter replied then more to himself than anyone else, "Come on K don't let me down now."

"K who's that another dragon," Cloak asked. She was doing pull ups off of one of Carter's spikes.

"K is our leader," Carter replied, "He's the one who turned me into a human to begin with and now he has undone that spell he knows that I am in Bertha so I know he is going to be heading here to keep anything from happening."

"Can he change a human into a dragon," Cloak asked.

"Of course he can," Carter scoffed, "Matter is at his beck and call he could... do anything he... wants... to. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Well maybe."

Cloak gave him a huge grin and returned to her pull ups. Then she asked one question one word that burned like fire, she asked, "Why."

Do the undead turn and flee from you, do demons scream at your presence, whole planets tremble," Carter tried to explain, "There is only one other than you who can stand in my presence and not feel a little bit of fear."

"Who," Cloak pushed.

"He is known by many names but the one that suits him best is Terror."

"He gave you the spikes didn't he?"

"Yes."

Carter was about to think that Cloak would drop the conversation but then she said something he did not expect even with their close working relationship. "Cool, so how did you meet up?"

"What," Carter asked confused, "You aren't going to accuse me of making deals with the devil or being a demon or something?"

"Your to sweet to be a demon," she retorted, "as for making deals something tells me there is a lot of background to that story and I won't ask you to tell me if you don't want to."

The plane leveled out suddenly and started descending towards the runway.

"Seems you were right about your friends," Cloak said from a window in the side of the plane. "We have got dragons supporting us on each side."

"What are their colors," Carter asked.

"One is yellow, and the other is brown."

"The yellow on is Storm, the Brown one is Blitz they are a bit of an item if you get my meaning."

Cloak laughed as she sat down and started doing situps, Carter knew she understood as he placed one paw on her feet to help her with the exercise. He couldn't fathom how he had fallen for a human, with their oily skin and squishy, wingless, tailless bodies. _"I guess what matters is not the packaging," _he thought to himself then smiled as a new thought occurred to him. _"But the package now that is the special part."_

Character Kalathanon

The airport was on full emergency alert as Blitz and Storm landed Bertha on one of the runways. Celantra landed next to the plane with Xavier and James coming in behind it. K jumped down from C's back to confront the army of security and military forces coming to 'welcome' them. K was back in his human form, being able to shift whenever he wanted had its advantages, as the guards approached he threw back the hood that his black cloak had revealing his silver, shoulder length hair and green eyes of fire.

The guards in their cars and vans formed a circle around them then a man with a mega phone shouted, "Put your hands in the air and identify your self and whatever those things are with you."

The human apparently thought that K was not a dragon despite the flaming eyes, K obligingly put his hands in the air, then called down walls of fire to surround the security.

"Now what was that again it is hard to hear you over the fire," K said.

He was answered with several bullets which he easily disintegrated, then Carter burst out of Bertha with a woman on his back who was carrying an AK47 and MPK5. They were followed by three men, one with an M60 machine gun, one with an AA12, and one with an RPG.

"Carter not helping," K said.

"Sorry," Carter replied, "But I just love a good entrance."

"K, K," Some one was shouting into the fire, "Cut out the fire!"

K snapped his fingers and the fire abated.

"Oh K it is good to see you again," said a man in a formal suit with a blue tie black slacks and black shoes.

"Mr. President," K replied, "I assume this explains the security increases."

"That it would," President Jack replied.

Jack Turner was a tall man with black hair, hazel eyes, a hawk nose, broad shoulders, and a tight smile. He was also president of the United States of America and a good associate of K's having provided several missions previously for K and C to do.

"So what brings you all here," Jack asked.

"Business," K replied, "and yourself?"

"Business," Jack repeated with a smile. "I'm not leaving for another few hours though so can I join you?"

"Sir those creatures are a clear and present danger you should not be talking with them and you want to go with them," a security detail said as he placed himself between Jack and K.

"Listen kid," Jack said, "I've know these dragons for a long time, even the spiky one. I have nothing to fear from them. Now I appreciate you doing your job but if K and his friends are involved in something it means that usually the rest of the country should also be involved, so step aside and let me do the job I was elected to do."

The detail looked at Jack then back to K then back to Jack. He sighed nodded and holstered his pistol. "Is that an order?"

"Yes"

"Well hop on," K said as he morphed into his dragon form, "I always believed in arriving in style."

"Where are we going," Jack asked as he mounted up.

"To visit a few necromancer friends of mine and hopefully hunt down one of their clients," Carter snarled.

"Carter, keep it light," Jack said.

"I'll try, but if I find that any of them willingly helped to bomb the college there won't be enough left of them for even a DNA scan," Carter replied as he assumed a neutral expression.

"Ready to go," K asked.

"Yes," Jack replied.

Carter nodded and took the lead kicking himself into the air and heading south-east. K, with Jack clinging on to his back, followed with the rest of his friends. Xavier, Blitz and Storm each had a member of Four on their backs, Celantra was flying next to K and Carter was in front of them with Cloak on his back.

"Wow this never gets old," Jack yelled.

"Nice to see you again," Celantra said as she pulled up beside K.

"And it is very good to get away from the politics and spend some time with you all," Jack added. "Lord knows its been you lot holding this country together for the past five years."

"Well you helped getting reelected and all," K stated, "Congratulations on that."

"Why thank you," Jack said.

"Carter where are we going," K yelled.

"Cuba," was Carter's terse reply.

"Oh I can't imagine that the Castros will be pleased to see me landing in their country with all of you," Jack stated. "It might seem like an invasion."

"Don't worry about them, I did some work for Domingo's father Raul before he died," Carter said, "That is why he extended the offer to the necromancers for them to reside in Cuba in the first place, so I could find them. I've also taken care of a few of Dom's problems."

"He lets you call him Dom," Jack asked amused.

"No I just do," Carter replied, "He never says anything though."

"Carter how many contacts do you have," K asked.

"At this point just about every dictator, president, and head of state for almost every country," Carter replied.

"Your almost as renowned as I am," K observed, "Nice work."

"So the people who I have come to rely on to keep this country safe are also buddy buddy with some of our worst enemies," Jack asked.

"Yes," Carter replied, "and for the record that is the second time I've been asked that. Ah there is their complex, let's go greet Castro."

"Should I announce us or do you want to," K asked?

"Go ahead," Carter replied.

"Castro, get out here we need to talk," K yelled his voice echoing off the ground and carrying enough force to blow the trees around.

Below them there was a flurry of activity then a missile rack was aimed towards them along with a half-dozen RPGs.

"Its K you psychotic nut," K yelled again.

The men on the missile rack hesitated as a man in a formidable looking set of plated body armor

yelled at them and pointed to the dragons. That same man picked up a mega phone and shouted. "K excuse the general he is a bit over zealous at times. Why don't you land and we can talk about what brings you here with out me having to shout."

"Thanks for the invite Dom," Carter yelled down as they landed in a clearing near the missile rack.

Seen up close Domingo Castro was not much less than impressive. Square jaw, broad shoulders, deep, piercing, black eyes, shaved head, and every inch of the man covered in hard mussel protected by a customized body armor that had metal plates on the outside and spider silk weaves underneath that could stop anything from 9mm to 50cals.

"K, Celantra, Carter, my friends what are you doing here, and why is he here," Dom asked as they landed and pointed to Jack.

"Relax," Jack said, "I'm only here for the adventure and to get away from Washington for a while."

"It true," K explained, "We picked him up in Orlando just a few minutes ago."

"You can't trust a capitalist," Dom said defensively.

"Says the dictator," Jack snapped.

"Enough you two," Carter said, "Castro the necromancers where are they."

Dom's expression suddenly hardened, "What do you want with them?"

"I need to find a client of theirs actually," Carter replied, "Its of some importance that I find him quickly." Carter ended the last with a smile that sent shivers down even K's spine. Cloak seemed totally unaffected, Jack looked like was about to bolt and Dom returned the grin.

"Well then if that is the case you can find them just inside, I decided I liked their company and invited them to remain hidden in the complex," Dom informed them, "Come I am sure they will be more than happy to help."

Character Carter

" Helda, Tyler, Joe," Carter called as they entered the complex. "I need a word with you about a possible client of yours."

"Carter," Came a woman's voice, "Whatever you think we did it wasn't us."

"Helda, don't play games with me," Carter snarled, "Get out here all of you."

The three necromancers entered the main hall, Helda was a short stocky lady with white hair, skin, eyes everything, she was albino. The two men Tyler and Joe were much different. Joe was tall and lean and appeared to hail from the Caribbeans, while Tyler looked more Germanic in decent.

"Have any of your clients purchased any spells or potions that could raise the dead for several hours after they were used, or any spells for golems, specifically bone golems," Carter asked coolly.

"No," Tyler replied his voice caring a hint of Hungarian in it, "Those are to dangerous for any of our clients to procure."

"James is this the truth," Carter asked.

"Yes," James said.

"That is troublesome," Xavier stated.

"What you encountered creatures like this recently," Joe asked.

"Very recently in fact," K said, "Our college was attacked and the students that were killed in the initial attack rose as zombies and a bone golem."

"I didn't... Didn't think there were any that powerful, other than us," Helda stammered, "Though that explains why your here."

"We are sorry for having to accuse you first but as you said we don't know of anyone else that powerful," C said.

"Oh, we're so sorry, those poor kids," Helda said.

"Well if it wasn't you, and I trust James on this, then that means that a rough necromancer is somewhere withing the US and we need to find him," K said.

"Aye but what would he or she want with us why attack the school," Storm asked.

"I would guess that if you figured that out you could divine the person," Dom added.

"K get in contact with Doug see if Cynder and our rider friends can't get here to help us discover the nature of these spells, they seem most adept at the practice," Carter said.

"Way ahead of you, they're already on there way," K replied.

"So we finally getting some of the old DC back together," Xavier said, "That's good, we've been too long apart from the others."

"Agreed," Carter said, "I wonder what fun those mercs have gotten into."

"Well I doubt they charge anyone for their service, the Doctor wont let them," Blitz added.

"True," K said, "Now they will meet us in D.C. So we should be heading back, Jack get on, Dom good seeing you again."

"Better than being viewed," Dom replied as he walked them all outside, "Oh and should the urge ever strike you to come around again, call first."

"We will at that," Carter said.

"Not you, Him," Dom said pointing at Jack.

"I just might, it has been to long since our countries have had good relations," Jack replied.

Then with a rush of wings and the thunder of air being moved incredibly fast they were off, winging their way towards their friends and hopefully some answers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 When the Blarg Hits the Road

Character Adam Jensen

"Hey thanks for letting us tag along," Adam, a large man who had over about twenty years replaced every part of his body with robotic augmentations, said to Spyro who was carrying him into D.C.

"No problem," Spyro, a large purple dragon with gold wings belly and horns replied, "Besides your good at guarding our backs."

Adam chuckled, He along with Spyro, Fenix, a stocky man from the planet Serra, Cynder, a black and red dragon who was Spyro's wife, Eragon, a two thousand year old dragon rider with blond hair and blue eyes, Saphira, the blue dragon that Eragon was bound to, Arya, another rider and the queen of the elven race from her planet, Varok, the brown dragon that she was bound to, Murtagh, Eragon's elder brother, and Thorn, Murtagh's red dragon partner, had received the request from K to meet him, C, Blitz, Storm, Xavier, and Carter in D.C. just a few minutes ago. Through the inventive use of Ingitus, a very old once orange but now blue dragon who could control time, and Doug, a massive parasitic life form that K had given thought and reason to who was an intergalactic spaceship, they were arriving at about the same time as they received the message. While it allowed them to arrive almost anywhere and anytime, it also meant they had to wait until K got back before they could do anything. They landed in the back of the white house on the golf course and were almost immediately surrounded by rather nervous looking security.

"Hold your fire," Fenix said, "We come at the request of K and President Turner."

"We figured as much but never can be to safe," said the captain whose name badge labeled him as Dan Wright.

"Good then as you were," Cynder said startling the guards even more, "we shall wait here until K returns if that's alright wit you."

"Aye t-that will be fine, er ma'am," Dan replied as he and the guards left the green with more than a little relief visible on their faces.

"We always do seem to make an impression," Thorn chuckled.

"Must be the two metal men we brought with us," Saphira added.

Murtagh and Jensen both laughed, they knew that she was referring to them, Murtagh in his full plate mail suit and Jensen with his entirely robotic body.

"So to pass the time," Varok said, "anyone got some music to play?"

"What would you like to hear," Adam asked, "I have almost every song from the 1600's up."

"Anything Gordon Lightfoot will do," Varok replied.

With the throw of a mental switch the speaker system on his body began to play. They were thus engaged with singing along to "Old Dan's Records" when K and his group arrived. Jensen switch off the music, even though Varok continued to hum the remainder of the song,as they greeted their friends that they had not seen in thirty years.

"Ah K It's been a while," Adam remarked as K and his group landed beside them, "Carter what's with the chick?"

"Shut it metal head," Carter replied, "This is Cloak the finest fighter in my group other than me."

"Burned," Four said in unison then started laughing as Adam shook his head.

"Well," K said, "It seems that I can never get only the ones I ask for can I?"

"What with us," Spyro said, "No way we come in package deals."

"Thus my presence in this venture," Fenix said, "And me and Delta were all ready to go to the beach."

"You were not," Blitz said.

"Yeah your right," Adam replied, "They were going to get their manicures."

"Guys, enough," K said, "Jack get these security guy out of here if you would."

"Right because they listen to me," Jack replied, "Oh and thanks for the lift."

"No problem," Carter replied.

"You know for a politician he is pretty cool," Cloak added.

"K whats happened," Adam asked as the security started to leave.

"The collage was attacked," K replied, "Apparently after the battle of Kirkwall we were not good enough at disappearing."

"Or your old enemies survived it," Adam replied.

"Or that," K agreed, "Either way I want you all to look into the undead that attacked the collage and see if you can trace the magic back to whoever set the spells."

"That could be harder than it sounds," Arya said, "A spell is most easily read immediately after it is cast."

"I know," K said, "But just see what you can get from it."

"We will do our best old friend," Adam said, "Take us to the collage."

Character James

"Ok in here is where the bulk of the undead were raised," James said as he showed Arya, Eragon, Murtagh, and Cynder the remains of the undead creatures that were still in the student center cafeteria.

"Well this is more promising than I had hoped for," Cynder said, "Nothing certain but I can get the necromancer's print from the spells he has cast. He was here when he cast the spells and so left a strong mental imprint."

"He was here," James asked enraged, "how did he get in and out undetected?"

"Traces of an invisibility spell still hang in the air," Murtagh said, "and something else."

"Anti matter spell," Arya said.

"That explains how he was undetected," James remarked still he was not pleased.

"Hey look at this," Eragon called from the kitchen, "There is a spell still here it is hiding a tunnel of some kind."

"A tunnel now that explains a lot," James said to him self more than to the others, "yes, they park the C4 car and blow up the deck to give them time to get in and out before we can get to them. And since they have access to this building through a tunnel then..."

"Then they have access to the other buildings through tunnels as well," Cynder finished, "It doesn't go anywhere but to the outside you can collapse it if you want to."

"Hmm yes yes," James muttered as he flicked his tail towards the hole causing it to collapse in on itself due to a gravity increase, "I am going to find K and tell him about what you found see if there is anything else down here." He didn't hear any response, he was to busy running through possible affects this new development had on his and K's assumption. This individual was not only a world class necromancer but also a powerful sorcerer, it was starting to sound more and more like K's old enemies had found him again. James wasn't really worried that K could not beat his old foe but he was more concerned with what this might do to the renewed faith that K had gained through his and C's influence over the past thirty years. K had been outside of God's kingdom for so long now and his return was so recent, only ten years in fact, that this new development might just drive him and thus the rest of DC back away from God.

James, being the Leviathan of truth, had always know about God, His plan, the dimensions, the relativity of time, and many other things that he kept to himself until the receivers of his understanding were ready for the added responsibility that knowledge created. It was this that was occupying his thoughts when a shout distracted him and he happened to look up in time to see Cloak and Vince running towards him, guns raised.

"Get down," Cloak yelled again as she pulled up to a stop and aimed down her gun's sights.

James did more than that he reversed gravity around him so he lifted off the ground while turning around to see what had sent the two mercs into such a frenzy. He was confronted with the sight of a creature he had hoped never to see in person, a demon of strife. The demon was about human sized but its eyes were melted out of its head, its skin was burnt and blackened with exposed sores and flesh hanging out, what used to be hands were now two scythe-like claws, its legs had been mutilated until it walked on four partial limbs and its mouth was a gaping hole in its head.

"I have a message," The demon slurred out of it mouth which oozed blood with every word, "My master is unleashed, he is coming for his brothers and you and yours stand in his way. This is your only chance to submit before he..."

The rest of the message was lost as four shots rang out and the demon's head exploded showering James in its burning blood.

"Sorry about that," Cloak said, "But I didn't need to hear him any more. Come on Vince lets go, uh Vince?"

Vince was just standing there staring at the dissolving body of the demon, James walked over to him and lifted the merc onto his back then motioning for Cloak to lead on. The three headed towards the crater of the parking deck to meet up with K and the others and report on what had transpired.

Character Kalathanon

"Who?" K asked James, "Who do you think is this master of this demon?"

"Lucifer. Not our friend, but the Lucifer," James replied.

"I know, why him though?" K continued.

"Because unlike the demons that we have encountered before, when this one's body died it did not. I felt it return to Hell," James replied.

K sighed and turned his eyes up to the clear blue sky that the two were walking under. After James had come back with Cloak and Vince K had asked for Cloak to fill in the others while he and James took a walk. They were currently across campus near K's security building. The trees were still filled with debris from the bombing but his building was still solid as a rock, Its low gray stone walls not betraying the high-tech underground bunker that it was on top of.

"James let me look at this demon through your mind maybe that will help clear up some of this situation," K said.

James nodded and let K into his mind. The memory was hazy at first, which was odd almost as if... K felt a barrier snap in his mind as he beheld the sight of his old general, Moroni The demon of deceit.

"K are you all right," James was asking him as K picked himself up from the ground.

"I remember," K replied, "James you are right but, how do you not know. The demon, Moroni his name. He, I, oh Lucifer what have you done?"

"K what this isn't making any sense," James said.

"Zar, get Zar, I need to tell him this information as well since he is the only other true Leviathan here other than you, Celantra, and myself," K replied.

"What do you know," James insisted.

"The message is not brothers its brother, I am Lucifer's older brother," K said, "That is why I remain here, this is my redemption, our redemption as Leviathans. My brother and I we are why sin exists we tried to over throw God, and we had no chance of victory, but in the attempt we realized sin."

James didn't say anything he simply nodded and left K alone by his building. "I'll send Celantra," He called back to K who was still in the midst of reliving his unlocked memories.

I remember Heaven and Hell, K thought, how is this possible. Why did I receive mercy?

"To save your brother," Celantra said as she came up and wrapped her wing around K. Her wing was smooth as glass but warm like flesh, her presence comforted and strengthened K.

"How long have you know?" he asked.

"Since you fought God," C replied, "I remained with you to help save you and because I still love you even as God is loving enough to save you through the same blood that saves all creation."

"Jesus," K whispered, "How long did I believe him just a legend a story?"

"Longer than you should have," C replied, "but as long as the barrier remained in your mind only Truth could sway you. James is Truth, I am Mercy."

"Zar is Humility, and I am Judgment," K finished, "and the others; are they still?"

"Aye the other Leviathans are still in God's house with the exception of Lucifer and Mamon," Celantra confirmed, "You are supposed to change that."

"Then may God give me strength to do what I must," K said as he returned Celantra's embrace.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 A Change in the Winds

Character Storm

On the inter-galactic space cruiser that was also an organic life form know as Doug; Storm was following the giant creatures directions as he lead her to Zar. Zar was the first Leviathan to be born into creation in a very long time, unfortunately he also was the first Leviathan to die in a very long time. Zar however was not so easy to kill he, instead of dying, turned himself into an undead that was bound to himself thus retaining his personality and will while also enhancing is necromantic powers until they were now the life force of his being. Basically he could choose when he wanted to die.

"Up ahead is a bridge," Doug's voice boomed from the walls, "Watch your step I'm more squishy and slick than the metal of the ship."

"Thanks for the heads up," Storm replied as she stepped out from the spacecraft and into a tunnel that was comprised of Doug's massive bio-mass. Doug was not a spaceship per-say he was a giant parasitic life form, called the Flood, that grew bigger and stronger by absorbing other creatures. K had given Doug emotions and morals and Doug was now permanently connected to K through a tiny mental link, thus when Storm arrived he already knew why she was there. However Doug was so big that he had to hover outside the solar system to avoid interfering with the gravity of the other planets and was stretched across about one hundred thousand various spaceships, all interconnected with fleshy bridges like the one storm was in now.

"Zar is waiting in the next ship," Doug said, "he is quite interested in what you have to say."

"I'll bet," Storm replied as she entered the next ship, this was the seventh on her path.

"Ah Storm," Zar said as he walked over to her. Zar was a leviathan skeleton that was held together by a blue flaming aura. His appearance was still disconcerting to Storm even after almost fifty years of knowing him.

"Zar," Storm replied, "K wants to speak with you privately and asks for you to join him on earth for a time."

"Of course he does," Zar said, "I'll go lead on."

"That will not be necessary," Doug said, "I brought the two of you here because this ship can detach from the rest of the cluster. It will be faster than flying back."

"And because we are going with you," Jackson said as he John and Haggard walked out from another of the ships corridors and into the room.

Jackson was six feet tall white but with a deep tan, brown buzz cut hair and brown eyes. He was a sergeant before he was in DC and his favorite weapon was a katana that K had given him. John was a Spartan and he rarely left his enhanced armor that he was literally raised for. His armor however was a forest green with black and a gold visor and stood seven feet tall. John used twin energy swords that he had gotten from his friend the Arbiter. Haggard was 5'9" short black hair, hazel eyes, white and a pyromaniac. He used a special weapon that K had created for him that launched fire balls at the targets, he calls it a pyrolauncher.

"Hmm, the original DC gets back together it seems," Storm remarked, "Very well Doug send us off."

"Find something to hold onto," Doug said, "Disembarking in five, four, three, two one."

Storm and Zar dug their claws into the ground, while the others held onto railings as the ship was flung away from the rest of the cluster with enough force to cause Storm's claws to grind across the decking of the ship.

"And we are away," Doug said, "Arrival at earth in four hours."

Character Kalathanon

One day earlier

"I'm saying she shouldn't have gone alone," Blitz grumbled to his father Spyro as K and C walked into the room of K's underground safe-house.

The white room went completely silent as the gathered dragons, Blitz, Carter, Spyro, Cynder, Xavier, Saphira, Thorn, Varok and James, beheld K. After he recovered his memory he and C had gone out for a day so that K could get himself pulled together. Well, as usually happens with him, their day out was not uneventful about half-way through K 'experienced' something and woke up later with C standing over him. He now was much too large to fit in the safe-house in his normal form and no matter what form he took he radiated a halo of pure white energy that seemed to flow off of him like steam.

"Who shouldn't have gone where?" K asked.

"Its Storm," Cynder replied, "She took off to go get Zar said something about you wanting him here."

"Aye I did want to talk to him," K replied, "Where are the others?"

"Farther in where we can't get to," James replied.

"Have them come here we need to be outside in five minutes," K ordered there are demons on the approach lets show em a good ol Dragon Company welcome!"

Carter replied with a loud roar, which was followed by the sound of running from the inside halls of the bunker system.

"Yes dear," Cloak said as she and Four exited with Adam, Fenix, Murtagh, Arya, and Eragon close behind.

"Seems we get to blast more demons," Carter said.

"Aye," K affirmed, "But first Carter, Cloak whats this that I sense between you two?"

"Do you disapprove?" Carter asked smoothly.

"Ah I see," K said well no reason for you to be so inadequately matched then Cloak what do say want to be a dragon?"

"Be a dragon, and be with Carter... I... Yes. Definitely," Cloak replied.

"Ok then but outside it might be to small in here with you as a dragon too," K said as he suppressed a chuckle.

Cloak practically chased the entire group outside in under a minute after that, as the corridors whirled by K was preparing to unleash for the first time in a thousand realities the power of his entire race, the power that was restored to him a day ago by his God.

"Ok K we're out now dragonize me captain," Cloak said.

K nodded said a quick prayer in his head and then beamed the woman in a sheath of pure energy. He changed Cloak's entire genetic make up and physical form to that of a dragon of the planet Avalar, Carter's home planet. On top of that he gave her the natural power over shadow that dragons like Cynder and her daughter Fiona have and gave her some of his knowledge about flying, fighting and the use of powers as well as how to care for her new body. The best part was that the change was painless for Cloak, effortless for him, and immediate. He, K was once again the true King of the Leviathans. The power that his entire race had accumulated over the very long years of their existence was his and he now knew who the other leviathans were and where they were surprised him.

"Oh wow," Cloak said as she stretched and tested her new form. She was a deep blue with golden belly plates and wings, she had two horns that curved from the side of her jaws to the crown of her head making it look like she wore a tiara. She was slightly smaller than Carter, and slightly bigger than Blitz. "K your a darling, Carter lets kill some demons I want to try out this new body."

"Well here they come," James said as he pointed out the shapes of a dozen demons that had just punched their way out from the ground.

These demons did not look like Moroni these were just twisted shadows of what they used to be. They were called the beneath because they had all been killed in the same massive flood, their bodies smashed up and either eaten or ground to sand their souls were just the blackened charred remains of what used to be some of the worst people mankind had ever generated. As physically embodied souls these demons had no real form but spread a poison on contact with whatever they touched.

"Cynder, Cloak, use your shadow-melds Spyro, Thorn, Varok, Saphira fire em up, Blitz, Carter, Four and Riders keep back and shoot at the ones James brings to the ground," K directed, "C you with me?"

"Always dear," C replied as she loosed a wave of lightening that staggered four of the demons. James followed up by pinning one of the staggered demons to the ground and letting Four shoot it up. Cloak and Cynder were in amongst the demons, their shadow-melds protecting them from the poison and allowing them to claw the demons. Already one was dripping a thick black blood that was killing the grass that it fell on. Spyro and his group were doing the best out of all of them so far having dispersed two of the demons already. Then K let out his power beams of light shot out of his mouth and each found a target that they then entered and burned out from the inside before exploding out of and dispersing.

"Come on K you took all the fun," Cloak complained.

"I'm sure Carter can make up for any fun I might have taken," K replied.

"I don't know," Carter said, "Cloak what do you like better making war or love?"

"Well I do like fighting but never never did get to the love part," Cloak replied, "and this new body will make things even more interesting, huh no boobs that's weird."

As Cloak, Carter and the others continued to talk K, C, and James walked off towards the remains of the parking deck where unfortunately the media was beginning to gather.

"We just heard what sounded like a massive explosion," one reporter was saying, "and you won't believe this but it seems that there are three dragons coming over the hill possibly the same ones that took the president earlier this week and returned him a few hours later are these creatures our friends or does some darker intent drive them."

"Enough," K roared as he approached the group of reporters who all backed off as he drew closer. With a thought K amplified the power of the media equipment so that he could broadcast from the satellites to the entire world what he was about to say. "People of earth hear me, I am Kalathanon brother of Lucifer former lord of hell known as Condemnation, I now rule as Judgment by the grace of God. My brother is sending forth his demons into this world and others, with one intent the destruction of creation. God has place in me the authority to stop him, but I can't protect all of you when there are a myriad other worlds that need my help. However there is one who can, not physically but he can save your souls from being drug by the demons back to hell. He was, he is Jesus, I suggest you look him up." With a snap of his fingers K disabled all the media equipment, "Well what are you still standing here for go do as I have instructed when my companions arrive I will leave some of them here but I must see to other worlds as well," K said to the stunned reporters.

"Is Doug on his way," James asked?

"Yes," K said, "And he says that Storm should be back tomorrow."

"Good," C added, "we could use her abilities in a time like this."

"Aye but there is still one piece that isn't adding up, why take Steve?" K replied.

The three just looked at each other before heading back to join their friends. But the question still nagged at K's brain, why would the mercenaries take Steve. Either they were taking him for their own reasons like a ransom, Lucifer had a special part for the boy in his plot, or Steve went with them of his own accord. The last idea bothered K the most.

"K dear are you listening to us or lost in your in thoughts?" C asked?

"Oh sorry I'm afraid that that second part there is true," K replied as he refocused on the conversation.

"Good, now that you are actually listening let me say this again," James sighed, "We should focus on finding where the demons will open their main gate. Now it takes a lot to open a gate so they will probably have only one on each planet, they need iron, copper, a fair amount of radio-active substances, several weapons that have brought the death blow to someone and a human sacrifice."

"Steve!" K and C exclaimed, "That's what they've taken him for."

"We must save him," C added.

"Oh don't worry we will," K assured her.

Character Cloak

Two weeks later

Cloak and Carter had just gotten back to K's Security complex after scouting Siberia, What they discovered there was disturbing, even for Carter.

"I just hope we are going to get there in time," Carter said as the two wound their way through the endless underground concrete corridors.

"I hope we weren't followed," Cloak countered, "But they do seem like they are almost ready to open the portal maybe another week at most."

"Aye and then Steve's life will end if that portal opens," Carter added.

The two continued on in silence, they were like this a lot now, the first few days after her change she and Carter tried the whole love-making game but neither of them really saw the attraction of it. Which Cloak thought was very odd because she had always considered herself sexy, and even in her new form she still had a killer figure, both literally and figuratively. What she found most enjoyable to do with Carter was fly, she couldn't get enough of the sensation. Thus her silence now the underground tunnels were great defensively but she preferred the open sky where her agility was more useful.

"You want to tell him or should I," Carter asked as they neared K's office/war-room.

"I will I got a better view from the shadows I was hiding in," Cloak said, "Wouldn't want to leave out any details, you know how K is about information."

"Aye well here we are might as well get this operation moving," Carter said as he pushed open the door to K's room so Cloak could enter with him following her in.

Inside was K, C, James, Storm, Doug, Tex, Fenix, Adam, Jackson, Marion, Lucas, Scaron, Tyreal, John, Arbiter, Griffen, and Doctor. K looked up as they entered. "Ah good your back, Chief and Arbiter found an already constructed Gate in South Africa, what news do you have?"

"We found evidence that the demons are planning to build another Gate in Siberia they are almost ready and we are sure that Steve is being held somewhere nearby," Cloak informed him, "What is this other gate about? I thought you said they would only build one."

"I said that they probably would only build on due to the materials but this first gate is small it was probably the source of the demons the other day and the passage that Moroni used to get through," K replied. "I'm sending you two Storm, Blitz, Xavier, and Ingitus to close the portal in South Africa, C, James, Tex, Alverion, Pyros, and myself are going up to the one you found in Siberia to halt its progress and get Steve back."

"Sure wish the other Freelances were here right about now," Tex said, "They weren't as good as me but for reasons beyond my comprehension I did trust them."

"Hey, you still got Wash," John said.

"Yeah he isn't as bad as I thought and Church is rounding out nicely," Tex admitted.

"Sorry about your friends," Cloak said, "I know the feeling I've been in other groups beside Four and have lost many people over the years."

"Should one of you three come with us to the smaller one, I mean what if Moroni is there," Carter asked, "Is he killable like the others?"

"Not really," James said, "Moroni is a demon general he only dies if you kill his spirit not just his physical form. Well everything has to be killed in spirit to be truly dead but Moroni's Physical form won't dissolve unless his spirit is beaten."

"Don't worry I know Moroni he will be overseeing the new gate and won't be as focused on the secondary gate," K added, "The other four are waiting outside for you."

"What no break," Cloak said in mock astonishment, "Your so cruel."

"You would not have been joking about that had you meet him a few hundred thousand years ago," C said.

"Oh right, sorry bad joke, we'll just be going then," Carter said as he led the way back to the surface.

"So who is this Ingitus," Cloak asked.

"Ah yes you wouldn't have met him yet," Carter said, "Ingitus is the oldest living member of our race save for Malafor but he is... complicated. At any rate Ingitus is what we know as the Chronicler he keeps the history of our planet and what we have done, it would not surprise me if he was chronicling this even as we speak, he also has some control over time, slightly different from Storm's talents, and not like the Doctor's Tardis but certainly useful."

"So he is older than K," Cloak asked.

"What, no K, C, and James are the last of an elder race called Leviathans, a few of my friends have been able to join their ranks, Zar, Spyro, Cynder, Krista and Geyser are all new Leviathans but even they do not have the same authority that K, C and J do." Carter explained.

"How many races of dragons are in DC?" Cloak asked.

"Four, or at least they are from four different planets, I guess that means you make five," Carter replied.

"Carter, Cloak," Blitz greeted, "A good day for hunting don't you think?"

"Ah I'm guessing the blue one is Ingitus," Cloak said.

"That I am shall we depart, I am sure we can introduce ourselves in flight," Ingitus replied, "This waiting is making my bones stiff."

With that they took off for south Africa, On the way Ingitus, who Cloak took to calling the old man, which he seemed content with, told her of how he became a chronicler the story behind Malafor, Spyro, and Cynder, and many points about the nature of his world. She took all of it in and actually found that for an old guy he wasn't that bad, Except when he complained about his joints or bones or whatever. When she asked him about it he replied "At my age its about the only thing left to talk about what hurts or what isn't working right or what not, you are a fresh set of ears and haven't heard all my stories a billion times but you'll tire of them soon enough."

As they reached the southern tip of Africa they dropped down to five thousand feet so they could pick out the Gate. They didn't need to worry about being attacked by the people below, K had spent the better part of the last few weeks getting with the leaders of the various countries to inform them of what was happening and who and what he and DC were here to do. He had arranged for the Legionnaires, Lucas, Reindheart, Katarina, and Anjali, along with RuGaard and his family to stay here on Earth when he and DC were ready to move on to the next planet.

"Look there it is," Storm said as she altered course to a cleared patch of land in the middle of a rocky patch of earth.

"This seems to easy," Xavier said, "There should be demons guarding the gate at least."

"Oh but there are," said a smooth but searing voice from above them. "Well there is me anyways, did you really think I would leave this gate unguarded? After all the work I put into it,"

The five spun around to see Moroni, hovering about fifty feet above them. He was much more corporeal now with only his eyes and hands still glowing with that blood red fire.

"You'll die this day demon," Blitz said.

"Oh I think not, but I wonder what will K do when he finds out that I killed you all the seer and fear in the same blow how satisfying," Moroni hurled a massive spike of bone and fire at Carter as soon as he finished speaking but Cloak was faster she intercepted the spear taking the blow in her side which knocked her from the sky. The attack would not have been so bad if, through a chance landing, she had not driven the spike deep into her. As she gasped from the pain, Carter landed and ran up beside her.

"Cloak, your going to be ok, I just have to get you to Xavier," Carter started but Cloak cut him off.

"No I won't the spear... its in my heart I can already... feel the cold coming over me," Cloak gasped out, "Listen you have to trust me on this I will come back I promise... but uhnn... remember 'Veteran of a Thousand Physic Wars' it... my return." Then she saw Carter no more. "I, good by love," she said to herself then "Right now where is Rodger."

Character Carter

"Cloak!, No! no..." she was gone, that demon killed her there was only one course of action he had to fight with the others until they all died or some how killed Moroni. He thought for a moment about taking out his revenge on K who had assured them that Moroni wouldn't be at this Gate but tossed the idea aside, it was Moroni who killed Cloak and the blame rested on his shoulders. Then Carter felt something stirring within him like a long forgotten skill or piece of knowledge. In that moment he knew that he was Leviathan, and not the kind that Spyro and his family had become he was one like James, he was the aspect of the Fear of God.

Empowered with his new authority he launched himself back into the fight eyes ablaze as twin balls of the darkest red fire. "Moroni, Come face me and know fear for on this day you have taken my wife from me but God has returned my suffering with a strength unmatched in hell!" The demon general turned towards him giving a much needed break to Storm, Blitz, Xavier and Ingitus. Moroni threw another spear at Carter but he grabbed it out of the air and flung it back at the demon. Moroni dodged the spear easily enough but the astounded look on the demon's face was enough for Carter, after all his specialty was fear. "Moroni do you believe your self safe in that garb of weak flesh, I shall sunder your spirit from it and flay you for eternity the parts of your soul will adorn my walls."

Moroni lashed out with a shock wave of pure darkness but it swerved around Carter, his presence at this moment being to much for even the darkness. Then Carter lashed out with a soul wrenching beam of pure fear, Moroni shuddered under the assault and his form wavered and returned to the fire and blood body that he had when he first appeared.

"This isn't over" the demon rasped out before he ran through the portal, Carter's next shot destroyed the portal.

"Carter, what happened," Xavier asked, "Where is Cloak?"

It took Carter a moment to reply, "She... is gone."

"Gone, meaning what?" Ingitus asked, "For a hundred years everyone thought I was dead too show us her body if she is truly dead."

Carter just shrugged and led them to the place where Cloak was, however when they landed the only evidence that she had been there was the large pool of blood, her body had faded away in less than five minutes.

"Cloak," Carter whispered to himself, "Veteran of the... you minx. God speed you my love."

"Where did she go?" Blitz asked.

"I don't know but wherever it is she thought it was worth dying for," Carter replied as a sense of peace washed over him. He knew he would see her again and if he knew Cloak he would see her again soon.

"Lets go tell K what happened," Storm said, "He will want to know."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Where Shall We Go Now?

Character Celantra

The Portal clearing was filled with demons, some were large brutish creatures with strong limbs and thick scaly hides, others were mutilated grossly mutated creatures that might have been recognizable once but now were masses of blood, pulp, and poisonous ooze, still others lack any physical form but were ghosts and phantoms that flickered in the light of the fire in the middle of the clearing. There was no sign of Steve yet, but their plan was to let the demons bring him out then Tex, Alverion and Pyros would create a distraction while James, K and herself would grab Steve and fly him to safety then come back to extract the other three. Celantra didn't like leaving the three alone with so many angry demons, but whenever she asked K about it he got that cunning grin and infuriating sparkle in his eye that meant he was up to something and wanted to keep it to himself.

"They are stirring, some one comes," Tex informed them. She was watching the camp closely through her sniper rifle since K had them all camp a mile away. Easy enough for a Leviathan to see across but not for the demons and even C's sight was no match for the advanced optics on Tex's rifle.

"Who is it," K asked, "Moroni?"

"No it looks like a kid," Tex replied, "uh red hair, slender, wearing some sort of armor, looks demon make however."

"Steve," Celantra said, "What are they doing to him?"

"Nothing," Tex replied, "He seems to be, hold up two demons are dragging a young girl behind him I don't like where this is headed."

"Why would they need two sacrifices," K hissed to James.

"They don't James replied, "but they do need a master level necromancer to preform the ritual."

"Its Steve," C said, "I can't believe it Steve is the necromancer, he did go with them on purpose."

"So it would seem," Pyros replied, "So same plan but we grab the girl instead?"

"Yes lets move we don't have much time," K said as he took off into the cloudy night sky. C and James followed and right as they were in position to swoop down and grab the girl Pyros, Alverion and Tex rolled out of the night and into the fire light while setting off several grenades and rockets in the demon hoard. C dove for the girl with K on her right and J on her left she grabbed the shocked girl while K and J removed the two demon guards. Behind her she heard Steve shouting at them, cursing them for taking the sacrifice. Those words hurt her more than any blow ever could, to think that one who she had taught was betraying her and DC, it tore at her until long after the impending fight was over. However in that moment she realized what Steve was chanting, he was going on with the ritual, with himself as the sacrifice!

"K we have to stop him," C yelled to her mate through there mental connection.

"I know," K replied, "James will get the others I'll deal with Steve..." Right as K finished his thought however, a horrendous rippling exploding sound echoed through the air and the smell of sulfur and ash rose up from the newly created portal. James had made it to Tex, Alverion and Pyros and was already heading out, K was turning around to rejoin them as a truly hellish laugh came echoing up from the portal.

"Rahhamuah, even you fear me don't you Judgment," Moroni's sickly voice echoed in their ears as they winged their way back across the Siberian tundra, "I will not be stopped Earth is mine."

"What happened, back there," Alverion asked as they got clear of any immediate danger.

"We saved the original sacrifice but Steve made himself the sacrifice and summoned Moroni through the gate to open it into this world. Now demons will start pouring through it," James summed up.

C lost track of the conversation as the girl, who had fainted when C lifted her out of the demon's grasp woke up and started screaming. "Its ok girl, C said, "I am not going yo hurt you or let you fall."

"Why should I trust you," the girl yelled back.

"Well for one we saved you from being killed and possessed by demons," C replied, "I'm Celantra, The others are Kalathanon, my husband, James, Tex, Alverion and Pyros."

"I'm Charolite," the girl replied, "I'm hungry."

"How old are you little one?" C asked her.

"Twelve," was the shy reply.

Charolite was very developed for a twelve year old, her figure was well defined, adorned with golden hair and accompanied by sky-blue eyes, a dainty nose and full red lips. Other than the obvious lack of food from her imprisonment with the demons she was a fine young girl, C was comforted by the fact that they were able to save her even despite Steve's betrayal.

"K we need to get some food for Charolite it looks like she has been without food for almost two weeks," C said.

"Who is... Oh yes you must our rescued friend," K said as he looked back at the girl who tried to shift behind C's leg to hide from him. "Ah a shy one I see no need for that here we will see you to safety."

"Here," Tex said as she jumped from James' back to C's, "C bring her up here it can be uncomfortable hanging down there. I've got some food she can eat, it's not like I actually eat it anyway."

C lifted Charolite onto her back where Tex had the girl sit in front of her while Tex feed her the food slowly.

"I'm so hungry can't I eat it faster?" Charolite asked.

"Afraid not," Tex replied, "after so long without food you have to reopen your stomach so you don't get sick."

Charolite seemed to accept this and after eating a little and drinking some water that Alverion offered her, fell asleep in Tex's arms while C, K and J continued their flight back to the Collage.

"K if Moroni came through the portal then how did he get back on the other side to begin with," C asked.

"Through the other portal," came K's terse reply, "Carter, Cloak, Blitz, Storm, Xavier and Ingitus must have either driven him back through somehow or Moroni had gone through earlier."

"I hope they didn't have to fight him," James said, "Moroni is extremely powerful Carter's fear and Blitz's earth attacks would do nothing to a demon as powerful as he is."

"Perhaps," K replied.

"Wait you have that look again dear," C called K out on his response, "What aren't you telling us?"

"Oh you'll find out." K said, "I'll let Carter explain."

"Are we there yet," Charolite asked as she woke up.

"Not yet," C replied, "But you should be ok to eat some more if you want."

"Oh goody I'm starving," Charolite replied, "Why do you have so much food if you don't eat it?"

"We eat it," Alverion replied as he threw a granola bar to Tex, "Only Tex there doesn't need it."

"You don't eat," the girl asked astonished.

"Nope, cant," Tex replied, "Look kid its complicated, but don't worry about us we will be fine."

"Well ok if you say so," Charolite replied through a mouth-full of food.

"That's a good girl," C encouraged, "just remember small bits for now until you can swallow larger portions."

"So are you guys real of am I dreaming again," Charolite asked, "I have been dreaming of this rescue every night for I can't remember how long."

Tex tickled her, resulting in giggling and a "Stop that."

"Wait you've been dreaming of being rescued, from that camp, by us, like this?" Pyros asked.

"Yes though my dreams didn't tickle me or ask so many questions," Charolite replied as she shrank down into Tex's arms.

"We are sorry if the questions make you uncomfortable," C added, "But if you have had dreams of this event then maybe your much more important than you realize."

"I hope not," Charolite whined, "I don't want to have to fight the demons!"

"No one will ask you to fight the demons," K replied, "That is your choice, but if you do want to we can help. I don't know what your dreams mean it could simply be that your mind is created in such a way that it could follow the paths of my kind and predict this event, or it could have been God's way of comforting you since he saw this event in you future."

"Promise no demons," Charolite asked after a pause.

"Promise," James replied.

This seemed to satisfy the girl since shortly after she was asleep in Tex's arms again.

"You would make a good mother, I think," C said to which Tex just shrugged and readjusted her position to face away from the wind to shelter Charolite more from the cold of flying. C smiled as they came in sight of the ocean, they were half-way home.

Character Spyro

Four hours later at Carter's base in Arizona

"Carter, K is back," Spyro informed his old friend. Carter nodded that he had heard and walked out to meet K. Spyro followed, Carter had returned with Xavier, Ingitus, Blitz, and Storm just two hours ago and said that he had information that K needed to know. When Spyro asked about Cloak Carter only replied that she had gone. Even Blitz, Spyro's eldest son, only said that Carter needed to explain it. Carter himself seemed... condensed, it was like the fear that pervaded everyone who was around him had been increased to a new height and if not for their long time friendship Spyro doubted that even he could stand being in the same building with Carter for long.

"Carter, what's got you so amped up, your fear aura is stronger than ever," Spyro asked.

"I'd rather only explain once," Carter replied.

"I... oh, look if Cloak left you then..."

"Cloak is dead," Carter hissed and Spyro involuntary jumped back.

"She, my apologies I had assumed," Spyro said.

"Its ok," Carter replied, "Sorry for spooking you."

They walked out from the hanger and onto the landing strip where Cynder, Zar, Arya, Saphira, Adam, and Anjali were waiting. K and his band were just visible on the horizon and would be upon them in just a few minutes. Spyro walked over to Cynder who nuzzled him as he drew along side her.

"You were right love, there they are," she said referring to his statement that K's group was almost to the base which he said just before going into the hanger to tell Carter.

"I have good hearing," was Spyro's reply.

"You look almost as troubled as Carter did he tell you anything?" Cynder asked.

"Nothing that he meant to say," Spyro said, "and he will tell us all the whole story in a moment anyway."

"Spyro, Cynder," Doug greeted as he burrowed out of the ground and disgorged Washington.

"Uh never doing that again," Wash said.

"You asked for me to get you here and here you are," Doug replied, "It was you who failed to specify the mode of transportation."

"What are you two doing," Spyro asked.

"I was under the F-18 back there with mega-mouth here and thought well I'll just climb on Doug and ride over here, but is that what he did no, he ate me and then did something and spit me back out here."

Cynder cracked up at Wash's explanation and Spyro even chuckled a little it certainly was the exact kind of situation that Washington and his friends seemed to create for themselves.

"Carter," K roared as the group landed, "I take it you let Cloak go off adventuring without you then."

"She's dead, Moroni killed her," Carter replied, "he would have taken us all out had it not been for some miraculous timing." Then Carter was awash in red flames and the air became so chocked with dread that Spyro could taste the bitter tang of it.

"Ah the aspect of Godly Fear," James said.

"And Cloak?" K asked.

"Has a plan, yes," Carter replied, "and we did take out the gate."

"Well then since we can't help her, this is Charolite make sure she is tended to and kept away from demons," K said as he stepped aside and Tex walked to the front carrying a young girl who might just be entering her teens.

"No, I don't like him he's scary," Charolite exclaimed.

"Aye that I may be," Carter said as he returned to his normal appearance and the oppressive fear abated, "but that also means that even the biggest demons fear me and won't bother you while you stay near me."

Charolite looked between Tex, C and Carter then replied, "I guess that makes sense, but can Tex stay too she's nice."

"Wow she just called Tex nice," Spyro thought to Cynder.

"I know, I wonder what happened to her to make her so frail looking," Cynder thought back. Spyro just shrugged and turned back to the group just in time to see Charolite and Tex walk over to Carter.

"Ok everyone listen up," K said, "there is still one gate functioning so lets go kill it and its master, Carter when can you be ready to go?"

"As soon as we get the little one here settled in," Carter replied.

"Good see to then, and Tex you to you were there and know what to expect," K added.

"Well, I hate to bring this up but how long was Charolite there," Spyro asked.

"We can't say for sure but..." C was cut off by Charolite.

"I was there for two months," the young girl said sharply, "Why would you care?"

"Well for one K, C and J are friends of mine and they rescued you, two that makes you the senior authority here on what the demons are up to," Spyro replied, "do you remember anything about their habits or general positioning?"

"I... well I guess that makes sense," Charolite said, "but I wouldn't know what to tell you... unless I was there to see what they were doing. They always have paths that they follow but only certain ones."

"Well that sounds like it could be helpful," Cynder encouraged, "but what do you mean?"

"I think what Charolite is trying to say is that certain demons will be and do certain things on certain days depending on a tell that she has picked up on," K said, "Could you describe to us what lets you know which path the demons will take on a given day?"

"Well they do some stuff and then I get all tingly and then I know what they will be doing," Charolite replied.

"So basically if we are going to have your insight we would need you with us," C said, "I don't think you need to go back there."

"And if the demons destroy this world she will have nowhere to go," Spyro and Tex replied.

"Enough," Charolite yelled, "I don't want to go back, you said no more demons."

"He said he would not make you fight them but if you choose to fight them then we have no problem letting you," Tex said, "we all come to a day where we decide that its better to fight than to run."

"I was even younger than you when I first started fighting to free my world," Spyro said, "I was just as scared as you are now. I have the power to fight the enemy head on but you can fight them from an even more deadly direction, intelligence." Spyro lowered his head and looked Charolite in the eyes, "you wouldn't even have to strike the demons, just come with us and tell us where they will be then we can kill them."

"The demons won't find me?" Charolite asked.

"Not if you stay with me," Cynder said, "I can keep you covered in shadows so they don't find you."

"And the demons would die if I told you where they are?"

"Yes," K affirmed.

"Well, ok but just this once," Charolite said, "I am still hungry through."

"Carter, Tex take her to go get some food," James said,

"Right," the two replied as they carried Charolite across the airstrip to the mess-hall.

"Your a crafty one," Alverion said, "and as much as I hate to take her back to that place it does seem like our best chance to take out the portal before Moroni can run through it."

"I only hope that we can keep her safe," Spyro replied.

"If you wanted to keep her safe then leaving her here would have been best," K said, "No you were looking for a way to keep all of us as safe as possible."

"But at what cost," C asked, "what if the girl should die."

"I won't let that happen," Cynder said, "I can cloak her from all but the most powerful demons."

"Demons like Moroni," Ingitus stated.

"She will not be alone," K assured them, "I will have Tex and Carter remain with her, Tex because she seemed to bond well with Charolite and Carter because he can stand toe to toe with Moroni if it come to that."

"I'll stick with her as well," Wash said, "Tex may be the best of us but she can still slip up."

"Aye that is good," Arya responded, "always in pairs, but I would not have any more guarding the girl, else we draw more attention and endanger her more than we could protect."

"Well said," Doug commented, "K whats the plane then we going to be sneaky on this one?"

"Yes if Charolite can direct us to the demons then stealth and speed will be our victory in this fight," K replied.

"Well I'm not much for stealth," Anjali said, "I shall remain here with the rest of the Legion."

"Aye, I shall as well," Spyro added, "Take only those of us who are gifted in the art of stealth, I for one am not."

"Indeed," Fiona will come, Along with Carter, Tex, Doug, Arya, Cynder, Zar, Wash, Price, Soap, Adam, and Diablo," K said.

"Well never thought I was stealthy," Zar said, "or Diablo or Doug for that matter but I'll be happy to assist you however I can."

"I'll go round up who we're missing then," Spyro said, "Here's hoping for the best."

Character Diablo

Eight hours later somewhere in Siberia

"So this is what he brought us three for," Diablo grumbled, "To draw the attention of the entire camp once they have gotten as close as they can?"

"Sounds like it," Zar replied.

"Quiet," Doug whispered. Doug was currently controlling eight true flood sections of the hoard of flood entities that were under his dominion. The little four legged buggers were very agile and could climb even some of the most difficult surfaces with ease, then lock down and mutate to spine throwing forms or they could hop into the middle of a skirmish and mutate into big brutes who's massive arms and low center or gravity allowed for smashing and bashing of the foe.

"Still irks me that Carter and Tex get guard duty with Cynder," Diablo remarked. Diablo was the self-proclaimed lord of terror, and he along with his brothers, Baal, Mephisto, occasionally K and recently Spyro's former enemy Malafor were the primary rulers of a sudo-hell where they had bickered and fought with the angles like Tyreal for thousands of years. Even after giving up that life and joining K in his fight against the very thing that once consumed him, Diablo still retained his old formidable appearance. That being a large, red, bipedal, scaly demon-like body with a large spiky tail, and a mane of horns that started at his chin wound its way around his face and then over his head and down his back. He had no lips so his large, blood-stained fangs always showed, a perfect compliment to his large razor-sharp claws.

"I bet you Price and Arya have taken out most of the demons patrolling by now, we've been waiting almost an hour," Zar remarked.

"They have only three guards to go before we can move in," Doug confirmed, "get ready. They have two left which they will take out simultaneously, then we move, nice and quiet while we can manage it, our goal is to get as far into the camp and to take out as many demons as we can before we are spotted then we run dragging the bulk of demons out away from the portal so Carter, K, and Tex can hit it. Ok lets go."

The demon camp was built around a spur of rock that jutted up from the earth and had natural rock walls all the way around so that navigating was like a maze. The fact that they were doing this at night made it even easier to find their way through the impossible morass of rock and shrub and ice. But they came upon their first demon within two minutes of entering the rock field, it was one of the larger brutish kind.

Diablo took the lead, the snow muffling his foot falls so his approach did not alert the first demon he came across. He dispatched the demon by thrusting his claws through its back and grinding it under his foot. After he got off of it Zar used the bone pieces to form a skeleton the first of his own personal army. Another three demons fell two to Doug's spikes, and one to Diablo's claws and three more skeletons joined their ranks. The fifth demon they came upon noticed them first however and sent up an alarm.

"Alright we are go lets get out of here," Zar said, "I'll have the skeletons hang back to draw more attention then they will join up with us just outside the camp.

"K knows that we are pulling the demons away and he and his team are moving into position," Doug confirmed, "Now then this way." The three dashed back into the rocky maze with the sounds of pursuit clamoring off the rocks.

Character Tex

"That's our cue," Tex said, "Lets catch up with K and swap out for Price and Arya.

"Get on then," Carter said, "Charolite you going to be ok while we are gone."

"Yeah I think so Cynder seems nice," Charolite replied from the blanket of shadows that Cynder was hiding her in.

"Well glad to see I have your approval," Cynder jibbed.

"We'll be back after the portal is down," Tex added as she climbed onto Carter, "ok big guy lets fly." Carter took off and through a series of glides and hops was able to reach K in under five minutes.

"Good to see you two we are heading back," Arya said as she and Price began their retreat back through the rocky passages.

"There it is," K pointed out, "The portal." It was not much to look at structurally just an arch of iron with uranium inside it and several weapons embedded in it with copper surrounding them. From the weapons, six in all, came six red beams that met in the center of the arch, when the portal was open the beams would spread out to cover the entire inside of the arch creating a doorway straight from hell into the world. "Now if we disable the portal by destroying or breaking the weapons it holds then we can stall the demons but we want to bring it all down."

"I could snipe the center until it breaks open," Tex said, "That should stop it."

"Ah there you are," Wash said as he ran up to the three, "here brought some rocket launchers thought they might be helpful."

"I thought you were staying at camp with Cynder," K said, "no matter the rockets might just do the trick."

"That's assuming you can get past all my minions, save your friends, and survive me long enough to do that," Moroni said from somewhere up above them, "oh don't worry I won't be jumping in just yet but oh look your friends seem to have met up with each other in the rock field and have been herded back here. Oh but look they are being follow by hundreds of my demons, hmm how could I have know about that plane of yours, oh yes my little spy Charolite she is such a good infiltrator. To think she learned everything from me and I learned it from you Kalathanon."

Tex brought her sniper rifle up and rang out four shots into demons that were trying to attack Arya and Price from the left. "We need to get to them now!" she shouted as she jumped down into the clearing and raced to the defense of the two hassled fighters. Just a few feet away from then Diablo and his team reentered the clearing with a mound of demons piling up behind them. Tex reloaded then dropped three more or Arya and Price's demons and one demon that was attacking Zar.

"Get away from the passages," wash shouted as he ran past Tex with both rocket launchers.

"Wash those things will..." Tex's warning came just a second to late as Wash shot back past her after firing off both tubes on both rockets. The resulting explosion however closed the two passages that the demons were immediately come through. Then the rocks shifted opening up a new passage directly to Tex's left through which rushed twenty of the mutated poison oozing demons. Tex sent four shots into the mass killing six of the demons then killed another by impaling it on the empty sniper rifle. She dived for the closest rocket launcher then rolled back towards Wash to help him up.

"Well not doing that again," Wash said, "Oh come on where did these guys come from."

Tex was about to use the last two rockets on the group of demons when K flew over and dissolved the demons in his particle ripping breath, he then landed by Arya and Price who were fairing the worst of the three groups, Carter was over by the portal confronting Moroni.

"Lets go get him," Tex said.

"Only if I get the rockets," Wash said.

"Fine, give me your pistol," Tex replied as the two ran over to Carter's aid. Wash threw his pistol and Tex tossed him the rockets. Drawing her own pistol Tex ran behind Moroni while he was distracted with Carter and unloaded both clips from the two guns into his back. Moroni howled but his attack against Carter was unrelenting. As Tex reloaded she saw that almost all of Doug's flood were crushed Diablo was back to back with K who had taken on his half-dragon form. Arya was on Zar and Price and the last two of Doug's flood were cornered by the demons.

Washington fired the last two rockets at the portal but Moroni was faster he charged carter taking a full hit from Carter's flesh rending fear pulse, but the demon general was still able to hurl carter into the rockets which exploded on his side and belly cracking many of his scales and causing blood to start running from the wounds. Moroni however didn't press the advantage, he instead shambled towards the portal.

"Got you," Tex heard Carter say, "Veteran of a Thousand Physic Wars."

She was going to ask him what he meant but then the portal flared to life and Moroni was thrown back. "You called love," Cloak said as she walked through the portal, "Carter! Oh you've done it now demon, Rodger, come through and bring all your friends."

As she spoke a man in black armor similar to Tex's own but designed for normal troops to be able to wear stepped through. The man seemed familiar and a second later Tex knew why as a familiar woman named Cony stepped through, she was wearing her signature EOD armor suit and carrying her twin pistols. Then to Tex's astonishment Cony was followed by Main, a super strong Freelancer, then York, North, South, Wyoming, and Carolina. Tex had no idea why the dead freelancers had returned in the company of the traitor Cony and the leader of the resistance, Rodger, but right now she was going to take any help that she could get.

"So Cloak this is the demon that killed you," Main said, "well you want him or do we get to have him?'

"Oh," Cloak said as she began to shimmer then burn with a spastic black fire, "He is mine. Hear me Moroni, I am Cloak, Wife of Carter the aspect of the Fear of God, I am the Leviathan of the Aspect of the Absence of God. I am Hell incarnate the literal absence of the presence of God, even though he is not absence in me, I have been given the authority to pick a being to have him remove his presence from entirely and that being is you, you are banished, you are destroyed, you never were."

As Cloak spoke Moroni screamed then simply faded away. Then Cloak collapsed in on herself and Carolina and York rushed forward to catch her as she fell, once again human but now with a deep blue Spartan suit instead of her previous frame. Tex spun around as Carter groaned and shrank down into a Spartan as well, he then pushed himself up and staggered over to Wash and her.

"Told you Cloak had a plan," Carter said from his red and black suit, "Come on introduce me to your friends."

Character Cloak

"Ok is everyone accounted for?" Cloak asked.

"Lets see, Main, York, North, South, Wyoming, CT, Texas, Washington, Rodger, and myself yes all accounted for," Carolina replied.

"Carolina," Wash exclaimed, "I didn't think you were dead."

"I wasn't until those demon creatures showed up, almost had the Director too," Carolina replied.

"You two shut it hear that?" Cloak snapped, "listen." There was nothing at first, but then the sound of grating, like stones being rubbed together.

"Great more company coming," Zar said, "any idea what it is?"

His question was answered when one of the stones that littered the ground exploded to reveal that it was not a stone but a rock-like demon that had been posing as a stone. The demon was only three feet tall but was stocky and had four arms and four legs with its head in the center making it hard to get to. Then every rock that the maze was comprised of began to grate and rumble.

"Uh guys there are like a thousand rocks here," York said, "we going to take them all on?"

"Oh yeah," K replied, "Good to have you on the team welcome to Dragon Company."

Cloak walked over to Carter, "so how does being in a human body again feel?"

"Different," Carter replied, "The suit is the only redeeming quality I see at this point but, perhaps you could show me the perks of a human body?"

"Hmm... I'll take you up on that after we kill these creatures," Cloak replied.

"I've got your backs," Tex said from behind them.

Just then ten more rocks broke open and joined the first demon, then the eleven demons charged. Carolina, Main and Rodger charged into the pack of demons dropping five of the creatures before Diablo's lighting inferno swept over the remaining six causing them to explode. Then the rest of the stones exploded, unleashing a mass of the rocky demons that must have been close to five hundred totaled. K and Zar were across the clearing to the South and drew many of the demons attention, Diablo, Carolina, Rodger and Main were now in the center of the clearing along with two of Doug's flood, CT, Wyoming, Wash, York, North and South were by the portal and holding off the demons from the West side of the clearing, Arya and Price held the East side, that left the North side to just Carter, Tex and Cloak.

The first group of demons headed their way, it was thirty in all. Cloak intercepted the first wave staggering two of the demons and killing three, she was followed up by Carter who finished off the two she had stunned and then Tex who pulverized four more. The remaining demons backed off and waited until another group joined them to attack again. This time they broke into three groups, fifteen each , and each attacked one of the three defenders. Cloak lost track of the other two groups but trusted in Tex and Carter to keep them busy while she focused on her group. Three demons came within her range, three demons died, then she attacked the demons killing four of them and crippling another. The remaining eight attacked her as one but she was faster than the stony demons and killed the remaining demons with only a few bruises to show for it. She looked back to see Carter finishing off his last demon and Tex who was piling up the corpses to act as a hill.

"Carter help Tex out with those corpses I'll bring mine over so that way we have the high ground," Cloak called out. She then checked to see how the others were doing, K and Zar were doing the best so far with almost a hundred dead demons piled around them, Diablo and the Spartans with him had the least corpses around them but they were helping to keep the demons from getting through the middle and blind siding either Cloak's own position or the position held by the other Freelancers, Arya and Price had retreated to their more centralized position as well leaving the East side for Cloak, Tex, and Carter. Still there was about another three hundred to go. Right as the demons were assembling for another, larger attack four drop pods fell from the sky. Out from them emerged Master Chief, Arbiter, Johnson, and Soap.

"John glad you and your's could make it," K called.

"Hope we aren't late for the party," Soap replied as a line of smaller weapon drop pods landed beside them. "Oh we brought some favors too."

The demons however had other plans and rushed them all before anyone could get to the new weapons. Cloak, Carter and Tex had it easier now because of the pile of bodies that they were standing on. However there are only so many rocky heads that one can punch before ones fist hurts even with armor on as Cloak was finding out. Tex was unaffected and Carter appeared to be undeterred but Cloak could tell that they were slowing down and eventually the press of demons would overwhelm them.

"We have to get to the weapons," Cloak said, "Tex you go for them, you have the best chance of getting there and back." Tex nodded motioned for Cloak to cover her position as she ran to get the weapons that were forty feet away, then took off. The next few seconds seemed like hours for Cloak as she repelled demon after demon. Carter caught her when she lost her footing and they both seemed about to be taken down when four sniper bullets raced between them and destroyed the demons that were immediately attacking. Tex had reached the weapons, her trip back seemed much shorter to Cloak but that might have been because Tex's shots continued to reek havoc in the demon hoard. Then Cloak was grabbing a shot gun out of the air, Carter had an assault rifle and Tex was back on the pile with twin pistols.

The remaining demons didn't have a chance as more of the demons tried to dislodge Cloak, Carter and Tex, K and Zar were able to break free and move around to the west freeing up the other Freelancers to take the center. After that it was all over in a matter of moments once the others got their hands on the guns bullets flew and demons died not much else to tell.

"Ok so that's it for the demon gates here," K said, "Lets regroup with the others aboard Doug's ship and decide on the next course of action."

"Yeah, like where do we go now," Cloak said.

"To help Cynder," Zar replied, "you heard Moroni, Charolite is one of his agents we should see if Gramms is ok."

"Gramms? What she your grandmother or something," Carolina asked.

"As a matter of fact I am," Cynder replied as she landed in the clearing with Charolite wrapped in a bundle of shadow, "here is the little trouble maker. After her master was banished she could do nothing but scream so I have her held in suspended animation."

"Good I'll release her mind from Moroni's control and then she can decide if she wants to come with us or stick around Earth and help the defense here," K said, "now lets get the others and go meet with Doug."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Homeward Bound

Character Spyro

"Avalar! We're going home," Rayon, the crimson-gold son of Spyro, exclaimed as K indicated that DC was going to return to the home planet of Spyro and his kind.

"Going home is well and good but what might we find there," Cynder asked?

"Demons probably," Spyro said, "All of our good fighters are here with you K, no one was left to guard our home."

"Oh I wouldn't say that no one was left," K replied, "I did have an old friend look after the place for you while you were with me."

"I don't guess you'll tell us who it was will you," Cyril, the light blue dragon and Guardian of ice, said.

"I'll give you a name," K replied, "Grishnake."

"That is totally reassuring," Fiona replied.

"Guys before we contemplate leaving, why don't we look to who we are going to leave behind to safeguard this world," Volteer, the yellow-blue electricity Guardian said.

"Indeed, I for one am staying," Soap said, "anyone else going to?"

"141 is with you," Price, an ex-British special forces with a groomed mustache and light blond hair, said for both himself and Ghost, a member of Price's original team who is considered dead due to a betrayal and being almost burned alive; he now wears a mask to cover his face and full body armor.

"The Legion will stand with 141 in this," Lucas a black-haired blue eyed knight replied for himself, his sister Katarina who had long, straight, black hair and black eyes, a white, ragged, haired gray-green eyed man named Rehindheart, and a woman with long golden hair that she kept in a pony tail and golden eyes named Anjali.

"I will go with you K," Jackson, an American sergeant, with brown hair eyes and beard, said.

"That's seven," K said, "very good you all will stay here while we go to rout the demons and fight out way through to Lucifer himself."

"Then lets not waste any more time," came Doug's deep grating voice, "Those who are staying remain on this vessel I will deploy several of my own spoors to assist you in this endeavor but other than that you will be on your own. Everyone else head to my flagship in the middle of the cluster and I will prepare to depart shortly."

"DC its been real," Ghost said as everyone else walked out of the ship.

"Hey Price," Spyro called out before exiting, "Take care and when all this is over come see us will y'all."

"I'll do my best,"Price replied, "Now hurry up we have a ship to catch."

Spyro left the ship to walk down a few miles of Doug's biomass created tunnels an into another ship where, Cynder, Ignitus, Malafor, Flame, and Fiona were waiting.

"So what do you make of this," Ignitus asked.

"What going home to what is possibly a demon filled ransacked planet," Malafor replied, "Well I tried to do that for years but it seems K has accomplished it in only about forty."

"Yeah but these demons will try to kill you to," Spyro added.

"True and that I won't stand for," Malafor stated.

"Then we are agreed," Fiona said, "No matter what we find back home we will not let the demons have our planet."

"I figured you would come to that conclusion," Carter said as he Cloak and the other Spartans walked in, "And seeing as Avalar is still my home even if I have a human body right now, I'm still going to fight for her."

"Aw and I though I was the only woman you fought for," Cloak said.

"No you are a better fighter than Carter," Tucker replied, "It seems more like you fight for him."

"Hey guys not helping," North said, "anyway we came by to say that if some of our own, not naming names or nothing, are going to help you out then we are all going to help you out, even the light bulb."

"Hey that's not cool," Church said, "Hey Tex I'll give you ten buck to punch him."

"You don't have ten bucks," Tex replied.

"Wow Tex you really are the team player aren't you," Spyro said, "How did you all manage to survive so long?"

"Yes about that we didn't," Wyoming replied, "If you recall your enthusiastic friend there came and broke us out of hell."

"Then why would you be of help," Malafor asked.

"Well we could always sacrifice Grif to the demons if they would give you the planet back," Sarge said.

"No," Carolina interjected, "Its because we are a team again, and back in our day there was no one and nothing that could stop this team."

"Yeah, but we never were a part of your team," Doughnut said, "I was actually dead for all that, to bad it sounded like a lot of fun."

"All you would have done would have been to run around and scream," Simmons replied.

"Hold up, ok the Freelancers, I can understand why you're all here, but why have you guys stayed around," Spyro asked the Reds and Blues, "You have almost no training, have almost been killed on more than on occasion because of us and yet here you are when we could have taken you back home ages ago."

"Well its because we really don't have a home," Church said, "All our lives we've been ridiculed, taken advantage of, used as target practice, and left for dead, but not here, here we've got a home with all of you guys, or dragons, or whatever, no offense Doug."

"None taken," Doug replied.

"Ok so your helping us but so is everyone here," Cynder said, "whats different?"

"Well we had Cortana and her cyborg, robot, alien buddies cook up some techno-what-its for you how does super tough, semi-robotic, dragon sized, armor-plated, combat suits sound to you all," Sarge proclaimed.

"Ok can some on translate that," Flame asked.

"Spartan suits for dragons," John said, "I think you'll like them and since your bone structure is much stronger than an human's you should be able to move at your normal speed and not get injured by the increase reaction time of the armor."

"Well I guess we should try these suits since you went through so much trouble to get them," Spyro said, "Take us to them."

Character

Fiona

"Wow those are impressive," Fiona remarked as she and the other dragons watched Spyro take one of the suits through its paces.

"Remind me why he gets to go first," Flame said.

"Because dad is the best healer among us and he can heal himself much better than he can anyone else if something was to go wrong with the suit he has the highest chance of surviving it," Fiona replied.

"Ok but why does he get to go first?"

"Well if you want to risk getting cooked alive, exploded, melted, filled with metal shards or worse then go right ahead," Washington said.

"Oh right," Flame mumbled, "yeah ok Spyro can go first."

Fiona, along with Flame, Ember, Malafor, Ignitus, Cynder, and the Spartans were in the flight control room in one of the hangers on Doug's craft, outside, in the hanger, Spyro was with John, Cortana and Sarge as they walked him through the operation of one of the dragon suits. The armor was comprised of a light composite that provided strength and flexibility, weaved into a cloth like structure that was powered by nanobots and hydraulics. The suits were a silver-gray color and covered the body from head to tail, with twin sections that the wings could unfold into, and it even had metal coverings for the claws one the feet that were razor sharp, as the gashes in the floor of the hanger attested to.

Fiona watched as her father performed maneuver after maneuver in the suit. The speed and precision that with which he executed the actions was astonishing, without the restriction of bone strength faced by the humans in similar suits the full capabilities of the technology was readily apparent.

"So that's why you were always faster," Carolina said to Tex, "Robot body for an AI."

"Yeah I guess that should have given it away but we were all distracted at the time," Tex replied.

"Yeah, with trying to kill each other," York said, "I prefer this situation to that one."

"I think we all prefer to have you helping us than killing each other," Fiona said, "Makes things easier."

"Not being dead helps," Main said.

"Guys look," South said, "they are going to shoot him."

"What," Fiona and Cynder exclaimed.

As they looked down Cortana had gotten into her Armored Command Unit and was taking aim at Spyro.

"What are they doing," Ignitus asked.

"Whatever it is Spyro seems to be ok with it, hes not fighting them," Malafor said.

"Don't worry guys," Cortana said through her intercom, "This is just a little blast to see how the armor holds up in lock down mode, Spyro whenever you are ready."

Spyro locked his claws into the ground and covered his head with his wings, then the armor started to glow red and Cortana fired. The little blast she was talking about almost destroyed the entire hanger, the glass that Fiona and the others were watching through got blown in on them, the ceiling almost collapsed, most of the plates that made up the floor were torn off and scattered around, one of them landed on Wash, but Spyro was right where he was before the explosion.

"That's what you call a little blast," Wash yelled, "could have warned us."

"Main, Wyoming, get him out from under that," Carolina said.

"Dad are you ok," Fiona called down.

"Yeah kid-o I'm just fine, these suits are very well made," Spyro replied, "Who wants a turn next?"

"Minus the explosion," Ember asked?

"Yes minus the explosion," Sarge and John said.

"What come on guys it was little for me my normal blast could have destroyed this ship," Cortana argued.

"Hey Spyro, John, Cortana, uh Spartans, Stop messing around," K said as he walked in to the room, "we have arrived, get suited up and get ready to fight Grishnake has got a heck of a battle that we are dropping in on so lets move."

"And who the blarg is Grishnake," Wash yelled.

"Dude calm down," Rodger said, "Man no wonder I was so successful against you for so long, well until you found me, Church."

"Yeah I almost feel bad about that," Church replied.

"Ah don't," Rodger said, "I did kind of deserve it."

"What no I meant saving Tucker," Church said, "No shooting you with the laser was freaking awesome."

"Thanks," Tucker and Rodger muttered.

"Ok come on down and get suited up," Sarge called, "get the rest of your friends too got enough for everyone."

"Ok lets go save our planet again," Ignitus said, "You know this does get pretty repetitive."

"Yeah seriously," York said, "And we haven't even been to your planet before."

Character Grishnake

"By the blood, that was to close," Grishnake exclaimed as he, a blue-green dragon named Chris and a cheetah general named Malcolm slid out from under a collapsing bridge that the Demons had just hit with another round from their catapults. Grishnake was an orc, eight feet tall, five feet wide, and seven hundred pounds of mean, green, muscled, killing machine. His general body structure was almost identical to a humans except his arms were slightly longer in proportion to his body, and from his bottom jaw jutted two huge fangs,each one a good six inches long and just as sharp as the ax, daggers, and crossbow bolts that he carried. He wore a mixed matched assortment of armor, light on his arms and legs with heavy on his chest and head, other than the ax and multiple daggers that he was quite efficient at throwing, he carried a large crossbow that was dual stacked, it was designed so he could load and fire multiple rounds in rapid succession, and two laser sighted nine millimeters. Yeah Grish had gotten around a bit in his relationship with K and had made the most of everything he had run across.

When K had transported him to Avalar Grish was first annoyed but had slowly grown to actually like the backwater planet, and now that a demon invasion was threatening the whole planet that had him a little angry. "That's it," Grish announced, "I'm going to go out there and rip those catapults apart my self if I have to!"

"If you do that you'll be endangering the whole city," Chris said.

"And if we remain here their won't be a city," Malcolm replied, "I agree we need to slow the demons down a bit if nothing else, I will gather what men I can spare to send with you, Chris see if there are any dragons willing to go out to help destroy the catapults."

"Well I'll go, and you can count on Jack and Ve as well," Chris said.

"I'll be back in a minute," Malcolm said, "Warfang is a big city could take me a minute to gather the men."

"Well I'll be by the eastern gate," Grish replied, "meet me there."

Malcolm and Chris both took off while Grish weaved his way between broken buildings and piles of rubble. The siege had been going on for a week now and every day the demons had gotten closer to the gates, in another two days if the city wasn't leveled the demons would be pouring in through the holes in the walls. Grish was going to stop have to stop the demons before that happened.

"For the love of blood would you stop throwing blarg," He exclaimed as another catapult round crashed down near by. He stopped a couple of paces away, "No explosion," Grish said to himself, "could have misfired,..." He ducked as a spike of fire and darkness passed through the space his head had just occupied. He continued forward and down turning the duck into a spinning roll and he came up with crossbow in hand and facing a large demon with two quill filled arms, a head made of fire and the rest of the body a black mist.

"Oh that is just so typical," Grish said as he shot a bolt through the demon, "Demons never play fair." The demon shot another quill, which ignited as it left the creatures arm, at Grish. Grish dodged the quill and fired another bolt, this time at the head, which went right through the demon. As he dodged more quills an idea hit him, he ducked behind a wall to reload his bow and waited. The demon came around the wall and Grish fired four bolts in rapid succession into the demon's arms then jumped onto its shoulders and fired another two bolts directly through its head and into its body, then he jumped off and ran towards the eastern gate, he rolled again and spun around to see the demon failing around as fire burned through it.

"So you don't like stuff jamming up your firing sequence huh," Grish said as the demon fizzed out and died, "Thought stopping your little quills from leaving might stop you." He resumed his walk towards the gate and arrived to find Chris and Veronica, a hard gold, female, dragon with ruby wings and one large horn adorning the top of her head. "Where is Jack?"

"He got held up with some demons inside the city looks like its just going to be us two," Chris replied.

"Grish, I got no extra men for you," Malcolm said as he walked over, "everyone is either dead, injured or over worked as it is."

"So its just us two and Grish," Ve said, "well talk about suicide."

"I am going with you as well," Malcolm said.

"Yeah because against the demon army one extra person will make all the difference," Ve replied.

"It might," Grish said, "But your right, Malcolm you need to stay here if your men are in as bad a situation as you say they are then you can't die out there with us, just make this worth it."

"Grish if you don't plan on coming back in," Chris started.

"I know, and I don't but you two just drop me off near the first catapult and get yourselves to safety, I'll keep them busy for a while," Grish said.

"Screw that I'm going with you," Chris replied, "If we don't stop these demons there won't be anywhere safe."

"For reasons I will never understand I'm in to," Ve added, "either this works and we don't all die or it doesn't and we all die anyway."

"My mind says to go with you for those very reasons," Malcolm said, "But my heart tells me where I am needed most, I wish you luck my friends." As Malcolm waded back into the city Grish mounted Chris and the three took of into the sky.

"Ok the demons are going to be expecting attacks from the air since they are fighting dragons after all so lets go in low and fast," Grish yelled over the wind.

"On it," Chris said, "Ve fly high distract the demons for as long as you can while I insert Grish."

Ve nodded and increased her altitude, Chris aimed low and skimmed right above the ground, arrows arched up out from the demon camp and a couple of ballista harpoons said through the air at Ve who was raining down large boulders at the demons. Then Grish and Chris were in amongst the demons and Grish jumped off as Chris vanished into a cloud of mist only to reappear higher up and circle around breathing a dissolving shadowy vapor on the demons. Grish pulled out his nine mills and began to make his way as stealthily as possible towards a catapult. There were not as many demons as he had thought there would be in the army and he arrived at the first catapult without incident. There were, however, a dozen guards around the war machine. They were horrible machinations of metal and flesh, the horrendous result of the demonic influence on condemned prisoners of war.

"Lucky for me I pack overcharged rounds," Grish whispered as he rolled into view and opened fire. The small, but fast, armor piercing rounds worked to dramatic effect on the mostly metal demonic creatures and Grish was able to hijack the catapult without much of a fight. As he started to turn the catapult so he could use it to shoot the other ones, the demons that he had just downed started to pick themselves up. Grish used one hand to fire the remaining bullets from his pistols while turning and firing the catapult with the other. Luckily the demons stayed down this time and his shot was right on target taking out another catapult, but now the remaining eight catapults were starting to aim towards him and several squads of larger demons that looked to be made out of blood and bone were heading his way.

Veronica came crashing down next to him, huge holes torn in her wings from the ballistas and a particularly nasty looking gash in her chest. Chris reappeared nearby, he was limping and leaving a trail of blood behind him. "They were more prepared for us than you it would seem," Chris said as he staggered to Ve, "Go take out the other catapults, we will buy you as much time as we can."

"I'm sorry you two never got to have a normal life," Grish said, "But for what its worth, Thank you." Chris nodded his acceptance and Grish was about to leave the two alone for their final minutes to go after another catapult when he heard a song. A song that he hadn't heard in thirty years, the song that K said was his signal, "Carry on my Wayward Son" by Kansas. As Grish looked up what he saw astounded him, he knew K was resourceful but the sight that greeted him was above and beyond even for K. At least thirty dragons were diving out or the clouds followed by four giant robot-like constructs and no less than eight large ships that Grish assumed were filled with more backup. "K you bloody fool, I give you an A+ in timing," Grish said.

"Impossible," Ve said, "Chris look its them its Spyro and the Guardians they've come back."

"Well never thought I'd see them again," Chris said through labored breaths, "guess this means I owe you one Grish,... assuming I can last that long."

"Once Spyro or Xavier gets to you you'll be fine," Ve said, "Just don't close your eyes."

Grish looked back to see the other catapults firing on their position, but he needn't to have concerned himself because as the rounds left the machines a huge platinum colored dragon swooped down in front of him, Chris and Ve, blocking the rounds with its gigantic wingspan. Then eight streaks of light shot out from the dragon, blasting the catapults apart as the dragon shrank in size and turned around, Grish was shocked to see K of all people standing before him, but not just K riding on his back were several individuals that Grish had encountered before, Janelle, Dameon, Satan, and Lucifer, the four most powerful members of the magic users from the inverse of his own planet.

"Hey Grish," Lucifer said, "Surprised to see us?"

"Considering who your with and what we are fighting," Grish replied, "No, this time I am actually glad to see you four."

"So you figured it out then," K said, "We're fighting my brother."

"Lucifer I know," Grish replied, "Meaning I'm going to have to start calling you Lu and K you have to tell me how you got all shiny again, last I heard you had gotten back with C."

"Long story," K said as he walked over to see to Chris and Ve's wounds, "Who might you two be?"

"I'm Veronica, and this is Chris," Ve said, "You a healer?"

"One of the best," K replied as he mended Chris' lacerated leg and belly then Ve's wings, "I think you'll find yourselves good as new if not better."

"I'm just glad not to be dead," Chris said, "When Grish had the idea to take the fight to the demons well, I kinda figured I wouldn't make it back."

"God it seems works in strange ways," Spyro said as he landed next to K, "Warfang looks like a wreck, what kinda friends have you invited over in our absence? Actually more importantly where are they this is far to few demons to be all of them."

"Good question, they have been trying to get in for a week now with no luck," Grish said, "Where else could they attack from and what is with the robotic suits?"

"The old tunnels," Spyro said, "Cynder and I used them the last time we fought Malafor, they are probably still clear."

"Then lets get in there and stop them," Grish snarled, "Spyro, I heard good stuff about you give an old orc a lift will ya."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: That Sinking Feeling

Character

Master Chief (John)

"Oh I remember these tunnels," John said as he, Doctor, River, Spyro, and K entered the old, stone tunnels that ran under Warfang and through the mountains that the city was built against. The tunnels were carved out eons ago and were sturdy enough to survive the sundering of the planet and years of neglect, they were a testament to the history of the city and now the artfully crafted underground escape rout was about to be collapsed to close off the advance of a demon army. John found it ironic that the rout that had once saved the city by letting the inhabitants out would now save it by crushing the aggressor as they tried to get in.

"Yeah first time I saw you I thought you were some new version of one of Malafor's minions," Spyro said, "you can imagine my surprise when you jumped on Cynder's back and started to help us."

"Yeah, I'll bet," John said, "I'm just glad you didn't shoot first. So what are we looking for down here?"

"Well if I can find a good location to create a resonant frequency in the rocks then we could collapse the tunnel on the demons without risking men in the inevitable fight should the demons enter the city," Doctor replied, "Ah there that nice flat patch of wall will work nicely."

"There are demons down here," K said, "I am needed back in the city, but I can have Doug send some extra hands to help you keep them at bay."

"I'm sure we will be fine," Doctor said, "With Spyro, River and John I doubt that the demons will surprise us."

"I can't stay either," Spyro said, "All of us dragons will be busy with the city's residence and will not be able to assist you."

"Then send North and South," John said, "I could probably handle anything that comes down that passage but its good to be prepared."

"And what am I chopped liver?" River asked indignantly.

"No but I don't know what you can do yet, mostly I see you two doing science like this when the rest of us are fighting."

"Between the two of you I doubt you would win," Doctor said to John.

"Either way I would like to have some extra guns down here just to be safe," River consented.

"They are on their way," K said, "we must go, send word when the trap is ready."

"Oh we won't need to the resounding crash will be pretty loud if I must say so," Doctor said with a goofy grin on his face, "Oh right, sorry this is your history, I'll just get back to work."

Spyro shook his head as he and K walked back out of the tunnel. "Smooth one," John remarked.

"Well the idea seemed the best one at the time," Doctor said, "I mean who keeps their history in a tunnel under their city?"

"Its still the best idea," River said, "we don't have any way of knowing where in the tunnel the demons are so bringing the whole thing down will ensure that we get them."

John chambered his sniper rifle, "well at least this position gives me a good long view of that tunnel."

"Aye," River said as she adjusted the power of her laser pistol, "Good for using that unwieldy thing."

"That's why I also carry swords," John said, "They don't run out of energy."

"Hey guys what's up," South called as she and her brother North walked up to John and River.

"Doctor is working on bringing down this tunnel and we are going to keep any curious demons from interfering," John said.

"I see you like the same cure for curious demons that I do," North said as he hefted his own sniper rifle.

"Oh please," River remarked.

"What we also have a shot gun and two SMGs," North added.

River was about to explain when John heard a noise, "quite listen," he said as he scanned the tunnel for targets. North and South both dropped down to one knee, SMGs out, while River got very still, her laser ready.

"There," North said, "left side looks like a monkey or something."

"Never mind the undead monkeys," John replied, "besides that make more of a clank, this was more like a scraping."

"Well it looks to be scraping the wall," South said, "Oh... uh it just disappeared."

"I saw it to," River said, "almost like it was swallowed by the darkness at the end of the tunnel."

"Doctor, how much longer?" John asked.

"I just got the equipment set up it could be a while," If your worried about the dark set up some light or use heat scanners or something."

North pulled up his sniper rifle and scanned the darkness.

"You got heat detection on that thing, impressive," John said.

"Oh yeah and is it detecting heat," North said, "we got about twenty sigs right over there where the monkey was."

"Ok am I the only one who is concerned about the undead monkey part of this place?" South asked.

"Your undead," John pointed out.

"Yeah but not like bones and ghost and zombie stuff just not dead right now," South argued, "Wait hear that?"

"Yeah, five of those sigs are moving closer to us get ready for some company," North said.

The scraping sound got louder as out from the darkness emerged five large serpents they had no eyes but were just huge mouths on a snake-like body. Their scales were a shiny hard black almost like obsidian, and from their three jawed mouths were jutting large blood-stained fangs.

"Will our bullets work against something like that," South asked in a whisper.

"Only one way to find out," North said.

"Don't," River interrupted, "they may not notice us and we can go on for a few more minutes without having to fight off the demon army."

"Ok guys things are about to get loud," Doctor said. Then he turned on the frequency generator and a loud thumping began to echo through the tunnel. The demons responded by homing in on the device and starting for it.

"Ok now shoot them," John said as he fired four rounds into the first of the beasts. The shots drew blood and a piercing cry from the demon but didn't stop it. River put a laser bolt right through the creature's mouth dropping the demon. As john reloaded North fired four rounds, one into each demon, stalling the advance while South fired bursts from her SMG into the next demon taking it down. John followed up with a third demon shooting off the top of its three jaws and a fourth by shooting through a section of scale that River's laser had melted. North Finished off the last on with four more quick shots through the mouth.

"And you said that there were fifteen more of these," John said.

"Yup and here they are," North replied as he pointed to more of the demons emerging into the light.

John handed him the remaining sniper rifle rounds that he had and activated his energy swords, "Then give me cover," He said as he charged into the demons. The first demon reared up and opened its mouth to swallow him but instead ate bullets some of South's bullets followed by a sword through the gut. As John removed his sword from the dead demon he dodged an attack form one of its comrades and followed up by opening up a hole that River made excellent use of dropping a seventh demon. "Thirteen," John counted down. He ducked and rolled as North took out another demon that was coming at John from his side, and came up right behind a demon that was rushing South. He jumped onto its back, ran to its head and eviscerated it. "Eleven." He spun around and thrust his swords into the belly of a demon that was about to swallow him, cutting the creature along its length leaving it in two halves on the floor. River and South took out two more while North handed South his SMG and took up the shot gun and headed for John.

"Time to join the fun," North said as he pumped two rounds into the nearest serpent.

"Yeah, welcome to the party." John said as he impaled the same demon, "Seven."

The remaining demons came at them in a wall formation of teeth and bulk, John and North jumped onto two of the demons and started to work through the creatures, killing the two they were on and a third in the process. South was now using both SMGs as she put down two more and River finished off the last two with eight quick, pinpoint shots that left a hole right through the demons' heads.

"Ok now am I good enough for you," She asked.

"I'm not going to lie that was pretty impressive," North said.

"Yes, I see your point," John replied, "But I still think it was a good idea to have North and South along."

"Of course it was," South said, "I would have been mad if I had missed the fun."

"Ok we should really go now," Doctor said, "In a few minutes it will be snap boom time."

"Then go," John said, "There are more demons down here and if the tunnel is going to collapse then we want them as close to it as possible."

"Time to make some noise," South asked.

"No we really should go," Doctor said, "River can't you convince them?"

"Afraid not dear," River replied, "I agree with them."

"What," Doctor exclaimed, then with a look of exasperation, "Fine we will stay with the device until the walls start cracking, but then we have to leave."

"Fine," John replied, "Now where are those demons."

Character Daemon

Daemon, his brother Lucifer, his father Saetan, and his wife Janell were following Krista and Geyser around Warfang. Daemon was a tall dark haired handsome man with piercing black eyes, a pointed hawkish nose and a curt frown that was almost always plastered on his pale face. He wore a tux almost everywhere for reasons he never truly understood. Lucifer was his counterpart, the winged Eryian was tall like Daemon but had a spectacular tan and bulging muscles. His eyes were a bright blue, his nose, cheek bones, jaw and chin were larger and instead of a frown he almost always had a fun-loving smirk on his face. Lucifer generally wore armor plated trousers and a brawling harness. Their father, Saetan, was more like Daemon, with dark if some what graying hair, the hawk nose and perpetual frown, he however wore less demanding attire than Daemon's tux, instead preferring a sweatshirt and bluejeans. Janell was the most eye-catching of them all though, with her golden hair, deep sapphire eyes, petite nose, generous mouth, and glaringly pale skin adorned with a red silk robe, it was impossible to think that Janell was anything other than unique.

"The demons really did a number on the city," Daemon remarked, "It is hard to imagine what grandeur must have been here before this destruction."

"Aye," Geyser replied, "even the Guardians tower is cracked and marred, not even Malafor dared to harm that structure."

"Demons, you will find, have a different perspective on what to destroy," Saetan added, "If you can break the spirit of a people then you can defeat those people."

"Makes sense," Krista said, "I see now that that is what Malafor tried to do."

"Tell me more about him," Daemon said, "You all talk about him but never in a good light what was he to your kind before K swooped in and got all of you caught up in his life?"

"Malafor was father's arch-enemy, dad trapped him in the core of the world when Malafor rent the world apart as you see it now," Krista said, "I think dad was only thirteen or fourteen and mom was about the same age."

"So they worked together to defeat Malafor," Janell said, "Impressive I remember when I was that age I rarely worked well with anyone."

"That is because you are a Queen," Saetan replied, "Its not in your nature."

"I suspect it is not in many young ones' natures to co-operate," Lucifer added, "I'm sure you remember when I was young."

Saetan rolled his eyes in mock exasperation as Krista continued her explanation.

"After Malafor was trapped we had a few instances with some of his left over army but nothing serious, we had though him gone for good and started to rebuild everything he destroyed," Krista said, "It was during this time that K arrived, I was only five so I've known him my whole life and Fi has never had a time where she can't recall him being around."

"Aye these last thirty years have been harder on her," Geyser added.

"Indeed, but sis is stronger than she looks," Krista replied, "Anyway we had pretty much rebuilt the city and several of the outlying villages when John, Cortana, Haggard, Jackson and Fenix showed up and all this crazy mess started. Malafor ending up on our side is primarily the result of K tearing him up real nasty like blood and bone everywhere."

"Hold up feel that," Daemon asked as he felt a thrumming vibration roll through the ground at his feet.

"Yes," Lucifer replied, "It feels like its right underneath us but Doctor is on the other side of the city."

"His device shouldn't be vibrating the ground this far in," Geyser said, "what could be causing this?"

"Strike at the heart," Saetan said.

"Geyser Krista fly now!" Daemon roared, "Go tell K that they are looking in the wrong place the demons aren't coming through the tunnels but are already under the city, Go!"

Geyser and Krista both took off at lightening speed, courtesy of the armor suits they were wearing, and headed for the Guardians' tower.

"Ok was it really a good idea to send away the two most capable warriors at your disposal," Grishnake asked as he came up beside them, "before you ask yes I've been following you all."

"Good to see you haven't changed much," Lucifer said.

The vibration turned into a rumbling and the street began to sink into the ground.

"There the building on the right that looks stable," Janell said, "lets get over to it."

Daemon led the way to the building, it was a low, for dragon standards, white marble, structure with a large base, something that would prove hard to sink into the ground. It also had an open air porch lined with dragon sized benches that would be great for taking cover behind.

"Lucifer dad, take the left side Janell and I will cover the right, Grish blarg it where did he go?" Daemon said as he and Janell ducked behind one of the large, flat benches. To his relief, both his brother and dad just nodded as they took cover behind the other bench. The rumbling turned into a grinding then after a loud crack stopped completely. He chanced a look around the side of the bench but didn't see anything. "I think we are clear," He said but then a huge hand punched it's way out of the ground.

The hand was mostly comprised of semi-molten flesh that reeked so bad it seared Daemon's nose as he inhaled, making it hard to breathe, what wasn't molten was charred bones and the occasional rock. As the demon pulled its entirety out of the ground Daemon sized it up at about thirty feet tall and fifty feet wide, the semi-molten flesh of its arms coalesced into a body of red hot metal that sat atop a cloud of smoke and ash and was topped with a head covered by a helmet that was as cold as the body was hot from which peered three flickering eyes.

"What is it what do you see," Janell whispered.

"I don't know but it is large, I assume very powerful, and it looks totally malevolent," Daemon replied.

_"Then how are we supposed to kill it," _Lucifer mentally asked him.

_"I don't know but I'd suspect that its arms are the most vulnerable," _Daemon replied on the same thread of communication.

"Stop that," Grish snarled quietly as he came up beside Daemon, "That's an Apocica a siege breaker if you will, the five of us can't take it but if we wait until it wanders off into the city then we can stop the demons from coming up through that hole."

_"Hold that thought," _Daemon though to Lucifer.

"Grish where were you," Daemon asked in a whisper as they waited for the demon to stop stomping about and walk away.

"Inside the building," Grish replied, "I was hoping I could find a way to trap that thing inside than bring the building down on it but nothing useful came up."

"Big help," Janell said, "You sure we can't take this thing, even knowing what just one of us is capable of?"

"K created these creatures back when... well you know," Grish said, "I would want someone equally as powerful to help destroy it."

"So you don't believe K's whole redeemed to God bit either then," Daemon said.

"I don't know, after everything I've seen and been through with K it makes sense but I do believe in being cautious and that creature definitely warrants caution," Grish replied, "Uh I don't hear it moving anymore."

Daemon got a really strong feeling that something bad was about to happen but he looked around the bench anyways. The Apocica was waiting, Daemon barely got his head back around the side of the bench as a wave of freezing energy passed by the bench.

"Well that's just great," Lucifer shouted as he popped up from his bench and sent a beam of energy crackling across the demon's back.

The Apocica snarled and turned its head to send a freezing blast towards Lucifer and Saetan, but Grish had another plan. He rolled out into the street behind the large lumbering creature and threw two eight-inch daggers into the demon's back. That move bought Daemon and Janell enough time to collect their energy and wrench the beast off the ground and hold it above the hole it created on the street facing away from the five of them.

"Ok we can't hold it here forever so kill it already," Janell yelled.

Daemon sent spikes of electricity into the Apocica while Lucifer used his energy beam and Saetan used alternating hot and cold on the creature. Grish was firing bolt after bolt into the beast but the demon just wouldn't die it was instead starting to laugh, a deep low rumble that seemed to originate from its armored torso and echo out from the helmet.

"We can't hold it up any more get behind something Grish," Daemon called out.

Grish ducked behind another building as the Apocica crashed to the ground. The ash and smoke cloud it hovered on dissipated for a moment but gather itself back under the demon allowing it to move again. Daemon could tell that Janell was contemplating doing something drastic and he was almost inclined to let her but before anyone could do anything Geyser and Krista dived into the fray. Krista barreled into the Apocica driving it backwards as Geyser filled it with spikes of ice. After the demon finished rolling backwards down the street from the sudden assault it collected itself and once again advanced on their position.

"You know the idea of you going to get help was to come back with some," Daemon shouted.

"We did," Geyser yelled back, "Listen."

Daemon did and he heard the thunderous footfalls of Beast, the hundred and fifty foot tall former embodiment of The Lucifer that was now free of that entities' control and was now helping K and DC. Beast was alive for all anyone could tell even though he, like the Apocica, was comprised of fire, flesh and what is something like a fireproof scaly skin, his eyes were pits of flame and his head was almost like a humans without flesh and crowned with two giant horns, his mouth was full of large spiny teeth and jagged, thorny spines ran down his back.

"Hmm a little morsel seems to be making trouble for you all," Beast said in his deep, rumbling, almost English sounding voice as he smashed his way through the city to them, "Come here you little snack." Beast reached down and lifted the Apocica up with one hand, almost like one would palm a basketball. Then with one massive bite rent the demon in two, consuming the half that he bit off and throwing the other half back down the hole in the street. "Hmm they aren't as tasty as I remember them being."

"Where were you all hiding him," Grish asked.

"In a box under the bed," Daemon replied, "Why you want to keep him?"

"Oh shut up," Beast said, "Listen K says to stop fooling around out here we have bigger problems the entire city is sinking. Probably due to the demons tunneling under it."

"Isn't the Doctor supposed to be resolving that issue," Saetan replied.

"No he is just closing off the old tunnels so that the demons have to make new holes if they want to get in," Krista said.

"Great, well I guess we should get over to the tower then, Geyser, Krista you got room for one more?" Grish asked.

"Hop on," Geyser said.

Daemon and Janell pulled themselves onto Krista as Geyser arranged Grish, Lucifer and Saetan on his back. Then the eight of them, Beast included, headed towards the Guardians' tower.

Character Kalathanon

Geyser, Krista, Daemon, Janell, Lucifer, Saetan, Grish, and Beast had arrived just after Doctor, River, John, North and South. The Tower was rumbling and vibrating as the city sank around it. The sinking was slow at first but now was about two inches an hour and speeding up. Fenix, who had fought against the Locust which employed a similar tactic was pouring over maps of the city and its infrastructure. K had just finished filling in John and his group, C was informing Daemon and his group, the Guardians were bringing in more maps and records of the supports under the city, The champions, Alverion, Saphira, Scion, Elly, Pyros, Kitara, Scaron and Elantra had just left to take another survey of the city to see how long it would be before it was underground, and everyone else was running about trying to get the remaining inhabitants to safety.

"K we found something," Sparks, the ghost of Spyro's old dragonfly friend said as he flew over from Fenix.

"Good," K said as he walked over, "What do you think?"

"I think," Fenix replied, "That the Loc... I mean Demons are trying to sink the city intact to do that they are taking out the supporting arches that line the tunnels that are under the city. Based on how far we have sunk I would guess that they started at the very bottom layer of tunnels and are working their way up. That also explains why we are sinking faster, as they collapse tunnels that are closer to us we will sink farther."

"What we need to do," Sparks continued, "Is stop the demons from making their way up the tunnel structure and we have identified this section here as the most opportune spot for a defense. The city will still sink by another five or six feet before the ground is stable again but that will just be from the tunnels that are already collapsed up to that point."

K looked at the indicated area, it was a series of ventilation tunnels that the moles used when they were mining the marble that they built Warfang out of, relatively few entrances from below but many exits that led up to the larger tunnels above.

"It looks good but small none of the dragons can fit down there, except me in a smaller form," K said.

"What do you mean none of us," Carter said as he and Cloak walked in, "We may have human bodies but we are still dragons."

"True," K agreed, "then you two will lead the force that will go down there, who do you want to take with you the tunnels will be small but there are only four entrances into it from below where the demons will be coming from, I'd limit your force to sixteen at the most."

"Well us, Vince and Carl make Four that leaves twelve left. Fenix you up to some tunneling?" Carter asked to which Fenix nodded, "Good then you and Delta are in that makes nine, John and Bad Co can go to and Tex, K you want to take the last slot?"

"I'll do that," K replied, "Celantra I'm heading down with Carter and gang you going to be ok up here without me?"

"Sure thing love just remember no explosives, or detonations, or massive expanses of air nothing that could destabilize this city more," Celantra replied.

"Ok got it," K said, "Sparks got fetch the others make it quick and tell them to meet us near the center of the old city."  
"You sure you want to go there," Sparks said, "That golem thing is still kicking around in there."

"If the old city is the fastest way down to the tunnels then that is where we are going to be," Cloak said.

"Alright alright I'm going," Sparks declared as he left the room.

"Boss you sure you want us to go with you I'm sure that there are others who are more qualified than us to fight these monsters," Vince said.

"Two things you need to remember," Carter said, "I got the four of us into this mess I'll look out for us and two no one other than K is qualified to fight these demons so lets listen to the expert."

"I'll detail the weaknesses of as many demons as I can on the way there," K replied as he morphed into his human form, "Lets go I prefer this form the least."

Ten minutes later Carter, Cloak, Vince, Carl, Fenix, Dom, Anya, Coal, Baird, Redford, Sweetwater, Haggard, Marlowe, John, Tex, and K were standing about five hundred feet above the tunnel that they needed to get to.

"Any ideas," Tex asked.

"Well we could dig our way down," Dom said.

"Allow me," K said as he carved a spiral stair way out of the ground that headed straight for the tunnel they wanted. "Its a lot of stairs but better than jumping."

"Maybe for you," Tex said as she jumped over the edge and fell down to the bottom. "The demons are not here yet," She called back up after a resounding thud announced her landing.

"I wish I could do that," Marlowe said.

"You ain't a robot now get walking," Redford replied as he headed down the stairs, "Never going to get to go fishing..."

Tex was waiting for them when the rest got to the bottom. "Did a bit of recon, the four openings are spread out along the northern side of the tunnel so if we can keep the demons bottled up at the holes then we could still pull back to the stairs here if we needed to."

The tunnel was obviously old, most of the support beams were worn and cracked but still stood. The tunnel consisted of rock walls and floor with a wooden ceiling above which the strata layer changed from rock to dirt.

"Whatever the demons are using to take out the supports must also be able to dig its way through the rock," Carter said, "K got any tips?"

"Not dig through," K replied, "melt through, like a cutting torch for rock. The demons are called the Char; ash wraiths with focused magma for arms very nasty. Always come in pairs and I would bet that the demons are using two pairs of them.

"So possibly four more holes," Fenix said, "Well that still leaves two per hole."

"Aye, Tex, Hags, Vince, Dom, take the hole closest to the stairs," Carter said, "Should another hold open up, Vince, Dom you two get on it. Fenix, John, Sweets, Carl, take the next hole up, John, Carl, you two break off if another hole opens up near you. Cloak, Anya, Red and I will take the next on with Cloak and Anya free to take another opening. K, Baird, Coal, Marlowe you four got the farthest Baird, Coal, you two tackle any extra tunnels."

"Well this should be fun," Baird said as they all moved into their respective positions.

"Hear em," Marlowe said, "Demons are on their way."

"Bring em," K snarled as his twin soul-blades erupted from his hands, "Its been too long since I was feared in Hell."

"You know those still creep me out," Coal said.

K didn't have time to respond as demons broke through the trapdoor that was covering the entrance to the lower tunnels. The first grotesque head that shoved its way into the tunnel was separated from its body with on stroke of K's blade. Gun fire rang out through the tunnel as the demons tried to push their way in. K met each new demon with a readied blade or spell chopping and dissolving every demon that stuck its head up through the passage, until the demons stopped.

"What are they doing," Carter asked as he reloaded his Famas G2.

"Still don't know why you use a French weapon," Cloak asked as she hefted her RPK 74.

"Shut up," K snarled, "I don't hear drilling and I don't smell melted rock... they are going to get smaller demons."

"That is good right," Sweets said.

"Not if the demons are small enough to get past us while we are trying to guard the tunnels," Carter said, "Lets back up give them some wiggle room."

"So the blargers can writhe around as they die," Coal said, "I like your thinking."

"Ok we are going to defend the stairs," Carter said, "K, Cloak, Tex, John and I will be in front since we can take a hit from these demons and have the highest survivability. Delta your behind us, Bad Co., Vince and Carl your going to be on the stairs so you can shoot over us."

"Sure thing boss," Vince said.

As they were taking up the new formation the first demon jumped through the trap door and into the tunnel. It was small, only about the size of a mid-sized dog, had mutated legs and arms that acted like tentacles, two black pupils on each side of its head and a body that was a large mouth, filled with tiny hooked teeth and a tongue with razor sharp bones sticking out of it. K shot that first demon through with one of his swords, but as soon as it died there were a dozen more that had jumped into the tunnel. K dropped demon after demon as did everyone else that was there, but the demons' sheer numbers soon had them back at the stairs. Then the four Char melted their way into the tunnel bringing with them two dozen of the demons with the spike arms.

"Well look who came to the party," Cloak said, "The Rippers." She promptly followed up by unloading the remaining twenty rounds in her clip into the first spike demon. K finished off that demon by shooting it through with one of his flaming swords. Delta, Bad Co., and Four were keeping the smaller demons at bay while Cloak reloaded and Carter and Tex brought down one of the Char. John and K both readied their swords then charged into the demons. Their combined ferocity drove the demons back slowly at first but, as the rest were able to start using the breathing room that K and John were providing, the demons were pushed all the way back to the remaining three Char and six Rippers. K engaged the first Char blocking the molten arms with his soul-blades and then dissolving the demon with his breath. Marlowe dropped another Ripper with six well placed rounds, while John, with the help of Coal and Red, managed to take out a third Char. The smaller demons were mostly cleared out by now, allowing Anya and Fenix to grind down two more Rippers. The last Char and three Rippers charged at K and John in an attempt to knock past them and get to the rest of the team. K wasn't going to let that happen, he responded with a wave of disintegration that stopped the demons cold as their bodies were ripped apart.

"Well that's all of them then," John asked as he deactivated his swords.

"That's all of them," K replied, "Carter lets go see if there is any other activity around and if not we need to decide what we will do next."

"Right," Carter said, "Come on lets head back up."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Its That Thingy With The Whats-It

Character Celantra

"So the city should stop sinking soon," K finished saying to the Guardians and moles, "Then you can send down a team to sure up any tunnels that nay have been damaged."

"Good," Flame said, "Lets see that's three times I've seen this city saved in my life, maybe we should move and just not leave a forwarding address for our enemies."

"You think that would work," Terrador asked, "Would be much easier on us old timers."

As the Guardians and the moles continued to workout the reconstruction of the city, K walked over to Celantra. "I really hope that this is the last time I have to save this city, its seen enough trouble."

"Well you may not be done yet," C replied, "while you were occupied down in the tunnels, a group of demons flew over head. I'm certain they were scouting out the city for another attack, we have to find the portal before we can be reasonably assured that the city will be safe."

"There you go again with those big words," K stated, "Yes, the portal is of up most importance now."

"K! K!, Ah K there you are," Sarge said as he wandered into the room, "Simmons and Tucker found a thing that might be one of those gates or whatever."

"You mean a portal," C asked incredulously, "Those two, well Tucker is an ok fighter but Simmons is kinda... never mind. Where did they see it?"

"In a book in the library a couple of floors below us," Sarge replied, "Tucker knocked it off a shelf and Simmons accidentally read some of it, he thought it seemed important but was too busy read to come tell you and Grif is just to lazy, so here I am telling you about the whats-it."

C look at K and he look back at her, "Show us." they said to Sarge. The library was one of the few areas of the city that wasn't completely destroyed with most of its books still on their respective shelves and only one or two holes in the walls. Simmons, Grif, and Tucker were standing around a table in the center of the room with a large book opened up on it.

"Wow how did you get that thing on the table," Celantra asked as she got closer, "That book is larger than all three of you."

"Yeah its dragon sized," Simmons said, "Me and Tucker lifted it on to the table and Grif just stood there and made lifting noises with his mouth, I think he is asleep in his helmet now."

"Sometimes I wonder why you all decided to stick around," K said, "But if this book happens to have any information on a rift or portal than I don't care."

"Oh its got a lot about portals, apparently the giant gem at the heart of this world is a conduit to hell." Tucker replied.

"Well that explains Malafor's escape," K said as he looked over the book, "Dear come look at this."

C look over K's shoulder at the diagram he was pointing to. It was the construction of the planet, well apparently what everyone thought was a planet was actually a giant lock to keep the core sealed away. Now that the lock had been opened the demons could use it like a giant bridge, funneling thousands of their kind into the world once it was attuned to them.

"So that is where all the other demons are," C said, "Probably trying to attune the core."

"Huh no I didn't have anything to do with a core," Grif said with a start as he woke up.

"Welcome back princess, did you have a nice nap," Sarge said sarcastically.

"Yeah it was great, but seriously what did I miss," Grif said.

"Lots more work for you to do,"C replied, "I think its time we stabilized this planet don't you?"

"Agreed," K said, "Sarge get the others, I'll have Doug send down the rest of DC at the core when we get there. Time to fix us a planet."

"I always wanted to win a fight against a planet," Sarge said, "Come on Grif your driving."

"This can't be this easy," C said, "That book didn't just get here."

"No it didn't remember those flying demons your were talking about earlier?" K replied.

"Oh you aren't thinking... I hope your wrong but you almost never are," C said, "Its an ambush isn't it?"

"Most definitely," K confirmed, "But the demons are correct in one aspect the core is a giant focus for a rift into hell."

"Why would they give us that information," C asked, "Unless they expect us to think it is a trap and involuntarily step into the real trap."

"Which is why we are going to charge right into the obvious trap," K replied, "The demons won't be expecting that. I've always been to cautious."

"Well if the you I know is the cautious version I'm not sure how I will like the reckless one," C replied.

K flashed her a grin that C had not seen him use in a very long time, then he whirled around and marched over to the Guardians. C was still shocked by K's grin however and was not listening to what he and the Guardians were talking about, the last time he had smiled at her like that, with those corners of his mouth turning up and the tips of his front fangs just barely sticking out from his upper lip, was just before they had their first son. She knew that he was back, her K, not the person he had turned into but the almost child-like individual that she had, and still did, love. _"Oh dear,"_ she thought, _"I wonder if all the rest of us will be able to keep up with him now." _

"Celantra," K called, "six of us are going to stay back and get the demons after everyone charges in, you want to come?"

"Sure thing love," C replied, "but I'm not paying for the popcorn."

"Ah-ha dinner and a movie," K said, "who else should we invite?"

"Why not the original DC," C answered, "Fenix, Jackson, Hags, John and Cortana?"

"Well that's seven, but I guess I'm a sentimentalist lets go get them," K said as he took off from the outside platform.

_"Forgetting something dear," C thought to him._

_ "Oh right," K responded._

"Sorry," He said as he landed back in the library, "Forgot that they were all inside here somewhere."

C laughed as they waded farther into the tower, the Guardians had many rooms built into the surprisingly large structure and DC had taken up residence in them. Finding which rooms were being used however was a much more tedious task than either of them had thought. Finally after twelve levels and several dead ends, they had gathered the five founding members and were making their way back out.

"So we actually get to ambush the demons for a change," Jackson remarked, "Sounds good to me."

"Yeah but we are also going to be protecting our friends they are going to be walking right into an ambush after all." Cortana added.

"True," C replied, "But they are plenty capable of looking out for themselves. What I worry about is if the demons are smart enough to expect us and plan an ambush for our ambush."

"That sounds like you are over thinking it," Hags said as he, John and Fenix climbed up on K.

"You would be surprised," Cortana said as she and Jackson got on C.

"Ready you two," C asked as she prepared to take off.

"Yeah just none of those crazy speed dives," Jackson said.

"I heard crazy speed dives," K said as he leaped into the air, "You mean like this?" K closed his wings and fell about three hundred feet before snapping them open and speeding off away from the tower.

"Well, Fenix, Hags and John are going to have a fun ride now," C said, "Don't worry Jackson I'll take it easy."

They made their way towards the core, while the rest of DC was being carried in by Doug. The plan as it stood was DC would charge in drawing the demon ambush with it, then C, K Fenix, John, Cortana, Jackson and Haggard would attack the ambushing demons at a signal from James. Well that was the plan, however when C and the others got to the core, it was gone, the only thing left was a cavern where the core used to be that was about ten miles across and ten miles high.

"Gone, what do you mean gone," Tex asked over Fenix's radio.

"As in not here, the entire core has been moved," C replied.

Silence... then, "And you want me to tell Spyro this why?" Tex replied.

"It doesn't have to be you I just had your frequency," Fenix said, "we just need Spyro and them to know that the core is gone and we need to know where to find it."

"Right well look around there for anything that could indicate what the demons might have been doing," Tex said, "I'll go jump in the fire pit you guys just made for me."

"Well that was redundant," Cortana said, "what else would we do?"

"She was being rhetorical," C clarified, "Tex is not to happy about having to be the one to tell the Guardians that the core is missing."

"Hey over here," K called from the center of the space where the core used to be, "I got something but it is good news for once."

"What did you find," C asked as she and the others gathered around K.

"Energy signature that I recognize," K stated, "Fortunately it doesn't belong to Lucifer or any of his other commanders, but instead by a general that I helped train, it would explain the use of my Apocicas."

"K who is this general," Jackson asked, "What sort of skills does he have?"

"His name is Vargoth, a talented but straight forward demon," K replied, "I would advise against facing him in one-on-one combat."

BZZ-BZZ, "K radio for you," Fenix said.

"Oh right, just a second," K said as he took the radio, "K here."

"K," Ingitus said, "Tex just informed us that the core is missing, however we know that can not be true because if it was then the shield that Spyro created would have dispersed and the planet would have flung itself apart so the core must still be there. Do you think it would be possible for it to be invisible?"

"No we are standing in the spot it used to be in," C said, "But it could have been shifted. It is possible that the demons had enough time to transpose the core to the other side of the rift that it could create, while retaining its effects on this world."

"Well if they could have done that..." Ingitus started, "K is the rift still open?"

"If they transposed the core then yes it would be but it would still have to transport the demons to where it was. Oh." K said, "Got to go we need to leave."

"K," C said, "To late." She dodged backwards as a large group of demons waded through a rift that opened up in the middle of the cavern. The group was made up of twenty flying demons that were a sickly pale green with tattered wings and a ghostly body. On those rode skeletons of various sizes and shapes, some were human-like some were evidently demonic in origin.

Jackson unsheathed his katana and jumped on C, while John powered up his swords and got on K. Fenix and Hags got behind Cortana and started firing, as C and K took of for the demons.

"Keep a grip on me," C called to Jackson, "I may have to preform some rolls."

"Great," Jackson replied, "I'll Just focus on chopping the demons that come at you from above so you won't have to."

They collided with the first set of demons, C's claws and energy beams devastating three of the demons and two of the skeletons, while Jackson caught two demons with his sword as they tried to get over and behind C. K and John were equally effective, killing more of the mounts than of the skeletons, which fell to the ground and were smashed up by Cortana. Fenix picked off three of the skeletons from their mounts while Hags exploded the three mounts. The twenty-two demon and skeletons that were left dived towards Cortana, Fenix and Hags.

"Blarg it, Catch me if I miss," Jackson said as he dived off of Celantra and onto a demon cutting the skeleton that was riding it up and off. John had the same idea as he sailed past C to crush a skeleton and demon then land on another demon and dispose of its skeletal rider. Haggard exploded another four demons with his pryolauncher while K and C eliminated another six demons and riders. Five of the remaining eleven demons with riders landed on the ground the other six split up and were trying to throw Jackson and John off the demons they were riding on. K disintegrated two of the mounted demons that were hassling John as C dove for two of the demons that were attacking Jackson. She caught both sets of demons in her claws and crushed them into the ground as she landed, then she electrified a set of the demons that were conflicting with Cortana while Fenix brought down two of the demon on her other side. Haggard finished off the last of the flying demons, John jumped down to land beside Cortana and fight the last two demon/skeleton sets. K landed beside C with Jackson on his back.

"Well, that could have been worse," K said.

"True," C replied, "Anyone hurt?"

"Were fine," Was the general reply.

"And you dear," K asked, "that was a pretty hard landing."

"My legs will be sore tomorrow but other than that I'll be fine," She replied, "besides it was so worth it."

"I'll bet," Cortana said, "I love it when you can smash something into the ground."

"Yeah you normally have a big giant body you can use to do it with too," Fenix said, "But lets get out of here before another group comes through."

"I think not," K said, "Doug is on his way with DC now, the next time that rift opens we are going through it."

"Its the only way to get the core back," C added, "We still get to ambush the demons but it will be on their own turf."

"Means they will be expecting it even less," Fenix said, "I like that."

"Reminds me why I decided to stay with you death seekers," Jackson asked, "Cause this stuff just keeps sounding better and better."

Character James

"K, C," James greeted as he, Doug in a large berserker form, Cloak, Carter, the Freelancers, and the Primes got out of the drop-ship near the rift.

"Ok so you all are going in with us," K said, "Jackson, John, Fenix, Hags, Cortana, you stay here and wait for the Doctor and reinforcements I'd prefer to have as few of you who haven't been in hell go with us."

"What about me?" Sparks asked, "I've been there before."

"Have you been following us around this whole time," C asked, "Impressive."

"Thank you," Sparks replied, "Look you all can still do all the killing but don't you think it would be nice to have someone who can move about undetected to scout out areas for you."

"I suppose," K said, "Just don't tell Spyro I let you tag along,"

"Tell who that I got to do what," Sparks replied.

"K," Doug said, "Doctor will arrive after we depart and then after him will come the dragons in sets of eight, two hour staggering so if we aren't out in two hours the next group is going in."

"All set then," James said, "It has been to long since we marched on the gates of hell. Now all we have to do is wait, right?"

"Not for long here comes the next wave," Cortana announced, "Get ready to move in ten, nine."

James got down so Carolina, York and Main could get on him.

"Three."

He tensed his legs ready to spring into the air.

"One."

The rift opened and a flock of flying demons poured out of it, James was already halfway to the rift before the first three demons were out. As he ripped through the demons with a gravity vortex, twisting and ripping their bodies apart, he saw Sparks zip past and go through the rift, which he fell through a second later. On the other side was an almost pitch black emptiness, James knew he should feel the overwhelming ripping sensation of every atom in his body trying to rip itself apart but his gravity control was strong enough to counter the vacuum of hell.

"Hey where is everyone else," Carter asked as he picked himself up off the ground then helped Cloak up.

"The rift is closed," James observed, "I assume the others didn't make it through in time. You two were riding K correct? He probably sensed that the portal was closing and threw you through it."

"Yeah that sounds like him," Cloak said, "Always getting us into the middle of everything."

"So your saying that the seven of us have to find the core in two hours secure it and get it back," York asked.

"Seems that way," James replied, "Sparks, your attuned with the core are you not, through the necromancy that Cynder used to bring you back."

"Oh yes," Sparks said, "And you are not going to like where the core is."

"Liking it doesn't matter," Carolina said, "If we know where it is we can get it."

"Ok, its inside some giant structure that is about a mile in that direction," Sparks said pointing off to their right."

"Ok is everyone's eyes adjusting," James asked, "If we head for the tower then we need to be able to see." His own eyes had adjusted just fine, the Spartans were using night vision, and Sparks didn't need to adjust his sight. "Ok Sparks you take us in since you can scout ahead of us, everyone else get on, I can expand my gravity field to include you but only if you are very close."

"Thanks," Came the reply as Carter, Cloak, Carolina, York and Main all climbed onto him.

"Hey its just like riding in a tank," Your said.

James set off following Sparks, he could make out the outline of the structure a long flat building with occasional spires and arches coming up out of it. Sparks, he assumed, could see just fine on the murky blackness that pervaded everything around them. Their passage to the building was uninterrupted but about three hundred yards away Sparks brought them to a halt.

"Ok there are about fifty demons inside that castle, most are just grunt level, but I am picking up five that are Lieutenants and one that is a Major, you just want to run and gun it, or do you want to sneak?"

"Run and gun," Main replied.

"Sounds good to me," James said, "Once we have the core we just need to hold onto it for five minutes so it can tune itself with the world again. Then we all get snapped back, how much time have we got?"

"Forty-five minutes," Carolina replied.

"Where in the complex is the core?" James asked.

"See that third arch to the left," Sparks said, "Its hung from the top of that, so we have to be on the core to be touching it."

"Sounds like a king of the hill game to me," York said, "What just trying to lighten the mood, geez tough crowd."

"Right then lets go give these demons a surprise," James said as he rocketed into the air and speed towards the third arch. Almost immediately demons rose into the air to meet him but between his gravity distortions, Main's grenade launcher, Carter and Cloak's machine guns, York's shotgun, and Carolina's dual plasma repeaters, they made it through to the core.

"Well there went about twelve," Sparks said, now we just have the rest and their leaders to repel while we sit here."

"How long do we have," Carolina asked.

"Five minutes," James replied, "and here comes the welcoming committee."

As James spoke the demons marshaled down below, they had arranged themselves in five groups of seven and one group of nine. The most troubling aspect of the entire situation was that most of the demons on the ground were the Spike demons with the exception of the Major, which appeared to be constructed like a walking catapult, and his two guards which were basically two large living shields. The core must have been floating a good four-hundred feet above the demons but even with that the major looked large, and as it cocked back the grotesquely mutated arm on its back James laid out a field of gravity in which everything felt a thousand times the normal effect of gravity. This didn't slow down the demons much and he kept the effect from affecting any of the Spartans but the molten projectile that flew up from the major demons back and the accompanying spikes that were fired up towards them were drastically slowed. Unfortunately the missiles did not just drop back to the ground but, slowly continued their flight upwards, powered be the demons magic.

"Quickly shoot the demons before the projectiles reach us," Carter said as he started to unload some rounds from his Famas. As the others started firing demons started falling and with them the projectiles that they had fired.

"Take down the major," James said, "his fire balls are going to roast us if we don't stop them."

There were three of the flaming orbs heading towards them now and James was starting to feel the strain of holding down so much at such a high intensity.

"I'm going to focus on just the major's rounds so the smaller stuff is going to become problematic in just a second," James warned. Then after a good-to-go thumbs up form Cloak he narrowed his concentration on just the fireballs. The sharp crack of the demons spines ricocheting off the core resounded with almost the same volume as the sporadic gunfire from the others.

"Those shield demons are blocking everything we throw at them," York yelled, "What now?"

"Sparks can you distract the shields long enough for Main to get some grenades through," Carolina asked.

"Sure just don't leave without me," Sparks said as he darted down towards the demons.

"Main if you can knock the shields down with your grenades I can use some of my energy to hold them on the ground," James added.

"Right," Main replied as he fired six grenades in rapid succession, "Got them."

James threw gravity bubbles around the shields, but the molten projectiles that the major was throwing up at them speed up a bit in response.

"Ok now would be a good time to kill the big one," Sparks said as he reappeared next to James.

"On it," Cloak said. She popped over the edge and unloaded the last drum mag for her RPK into the large demon getting a loud roar from the creature but nothing else.

"Next idea," York asked.

"Yeah, I got one," James said, "Duck."

He reversed the direction that his gravity stream was pushing and instead of keeping the projectiles from hitting them sent them flying over their heads, then he redirected the missiles around back towards the demons slamming the gathered demons with their own fire. Before he could check out his handy work however they all snapped back to the other end of the rift, where K and the others were waiting for them.

"Well Core is back," Sarge said, "And you ain't dead either, not bad. Just shows you what all that stuff with the thingy-what-its does for you."

"Do you mean technology," Simmons asked?

"Yeah that stuff, No need for fancy powers or nothing just good old fashioned elbow grease," Sarge said.

"Actually without James' powers we wouldn't be back here now," Carolina replied.

"So does this make us friends then," James asked, "Cause you all sure know your way around a battle, wouldn't want to be on your bad side."

"Hey you don't make us mad we won't make you mad," York said.

"James," K called, "Stop messing around we got the core back but the demons had to get here in the first place and Spyro thinks he knows where."

"Yeah, You all get your fight on cause its going to be sweet," Coal said as he walked by throwing a salute to James and the group.

"Coal," Carter remarked.

James was suppressing a laugh as he and the others made there way out of the core's cavern and back to the city.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Are we done here?

Character Haggard

"Ok so let me fill you all in," Haggard said to James and group, "After you all got through the portal, a large group of demons came in through the other side of the cavern. We gave them a thrashing and sent them running like a bunch of liberals that were confronted with facts, Spyro and Cynder decided to track them back to what they hoped would be the original rift and they got pretty close before the demons realized they were being followed and tried to fight it out. From what I hear, with those new suits they got, our dragon friends massacred the demons and were able to guesstimate where the other rift is."

"Wow that has to be the most complete thought you have ever dictated to us," Carter said.

"Yeah I know even I was surprised," Hags replied, "Any way now we get to go blow up some stuff..., and then probably leave.

"You don't sound happy about that," Carolina said, "What you want to stay?"

"Don't know, K is great and we get to make a lot of explosions but there is something about this world that is just... Ah its whatever it is," Hags said, "Any way there is going to be a huge explosion so I'm ready to get some fighting done."

"Always the optimist," Preston said, "That why I like you."

"Hey someone has to balance out Sweet's oppressive pessimism," Hags said, "And you and Red ain't the best at that."

"Do we know how long these tunnels are," James asked as they continued to follow, K, C, Spyro, and Cynder through the mountains towards the rift site.

"Not really sure, Spyro and Cynder were able to make it there and back in an hour, but that was with those suits, much faster than getting all of DC through theses tunnels," Red stated.

"Yeah unless all rode on you guys it will probably take longer," Sweets said, "Great place for an ambush these tunnels and valleys."

"I see what you mean about the pessimism," York said.

"Hey I agree with Sweets," Grish said as he lumbered up beside the group, "I'd much rather expect an attack and not get one than not expect an attack and get hit."

"I always expect to attack," Carolina replied, "And then I follow through with that expectation."

"I just like it when stuff blows up," Hags said, "and check it out stuff to blow up at twelve O' clock."

Before them the tunnel opened up out into a valley that used to be lush forest but was now a desolated waste filled with demons and a howling wind that seemed to come from the forty foot high hundred foot across portal that was madly swirling in the middle of a demonic hoard.

"Well blarg," K said, "Its a full blown gateway. The key to this is going to be taking that out so that reinforcements don't come pouring through it."

"So big boom real quick," Hags said, "You get me the time and I can get the boom."

"Right, Doctor you go with Hags and Bad Co.," K said, "Fi, Geyser, Krista, how do you feel about doing some recon work."

"And maybe get spotted and drag the demons into the tunnels where you all will be waiting for them," Fi finished, "Sounds good to me I'd like to see what this armor can do."

"Read our minds," C replied, "Bad Co you ready?"

"We are if the Doctor is," Red replied, "Hags you sure you can blow that... never mind."

"Don't worry about it I can bring the boom when you give me the opening," Hags stated.

"Bow-chicka-bow-ow," Tucker said as Tex whacked him in the face, "Man I got to learn to shut up around you."

"Ok where do we need to be when the demons chase you three into the tunnels," Doctor asked.

"Somewhere they won't be looking," Sweets said, "What isn't it obvious?"

"No its not," Hags replied, "There is this tunnel and the valley out there, where else... Oh."

"That's right," Sweets said, "On our distractions, if you'll let us of course."

"And how will we get off," Preston asked.

"We jump," Hags said, "Onto the portal."

"That portal is forty feet high, what if we miss," Red said.

"Geronimo," Doctor replied, "Besides this is the best way to get us close to the portal. Then all we need is some explosives and a rope."

"Blow it up from the inside," Hags said, "swing the charge through the portal, big boom and we don't die."

"Sounds like you all got this," K said, "Fi, Geyser, Krista get going."

"I'm going too," River said, "Can't let the husband get to have all the fun."

"Of course not," C replied, "Just go."

A few minutes later, Hags and Sweets were riding Geyser out over the demon filled fields. Preston and Red were on Fi, and the Doctor and River were on Krista.

"Is it a good idea to have the three craziest of us riding together," Hags asked.

"Of course not," Geyser replied, "But then again neither is purposely being shot at by demons. Get ready to jump you two, I can only hang in place for a moment before the missiles catch up to me."

"Ready," Hags said, "Take us in."

Geyser wheeled around and headed for the portal, a line of projectiles flew up from the demons below and several took flight to chase him. Hags readied to jump, his C4 on a rope in hand. Krista shot past them and the Doctor and River jumped off and landed on the portal. Then Geyser took them in Hags jumped and was caught by River, while the Doctor caught Sweets.

"Good catch," Hags said, "Now watch me work."

As he tied himself to Sweetwater, Red and Preston dropped in adding their weight to Sweets so Hags could rappel down and throw the charge through the portal.

"Ok," Doctor said, "Charge is set to blow in sixty, get down there."

Hags grabbed the explosive and backed out over the edge. For him time definitely seemed to slow down and speed up, he was having to move slowly to keep from pulling his team off the top, but had the constant awareness of the bomb that was ticking down in his hands. The roar of the portal was deafening and as he got closer it seemed to reach out for him like it was hungry. He reached the lip at thirty and rolled out the C4, he swung it around four times then slung it into the portal.

"All right pull me up," Hags yelled, "I don't want to be down here when that thing blows." He realized that they couldn't hear him so he gave the rope two quick tugs. He soon felt them lifting him up, away from the portal and the bomb that was going to explode in five seconds. He reached the top and got back on his feet in time to ask, "How large is this explosion going to be," But not in time to hear the answer. A giant spout of fire roared out of the portal, shaking the construct so hard that it knocked them all off their feet. Hags reached out and grabbed Preston as he almost slid off the top.

"Thanks Hags," Preston said as he regained his footing, "Ok so what now?"

"Now we have incoming," River said.

A wave of the flying demons and a few specters was sailing towards them.

"I think we are going to be on our own for this one," Red said, "Hags your pyro-launcher is the only thing we got that can kill those ghosts, so don't worry about the others we got them."

Bringing the sights of the pyro up, Hags aimed for the first of the oncoming ghosts. As the rattle of gunfire broke out next to him, he lit up the sky with the new feature he had installed on his favorite weapon, a flame wave creator. He had given the Pyro to Doug to see if the relatively clumsy ball that it shot could be augmented to something that provided more cover while still exploding when it hit a target, this flame wave was what Doug had come up with. As the demons hit the wall of fire they set off explosions that knocked them all from the sky in a spectacular fireworks show.

"Yeah now that is how its done," Haggard yelled, "Oh that is awesome."

"Woah Hags, When did you trick out the pyro," Sweets asked.

"About a month ago, I had Doug do it for me." Hags replied.

"Can I get one of those," River asked.

"You don't need one of those," Doctor replied.

"Yo rides here," Red said, "Lets go before Hags roasts any of us."

"Hey I've never intentionally hurt any of you," Hags replied.

"Yeah but what about the unintentional times," Preston said as he slapped Haggard on the shoulder.

"Oh that's a burn," Fi said as she parked next to them, "These suits are awesome, the jet powered parking feature is so cool. But get on quick it doesn't last very long before it has to recharge again."

Preston and Red hoped on Fiona, then the Doctor and River got on Krista, and then Geyser came by for Sweetwater and himself. Hags had just gotten on Geyser when the portal structure began to creek and collapse in on itself.

"Well that was close," Hags said, "Just like old times."

"I think we would all be better off if the old times stayed in the past," Sweets said, "I hate close calls."

"Yo, Sweets," Hags said.

"Yeah," came the reply.

"What do you think about staying here when the others move on?"

"Stay? I... well back home we are still wanted criminals here though; It just seems so foreign."

"Well the way I see it is even though we are some of the best," Hags said, "K is going to be taking this war right into the depths of Hell. Now I was never very religious before all this but I think that we wouldn't do any good down there. God simply didn't design our kind to live there, especially not in these bodies."

"Wow Hags did you get a degree when I wasn't looking cause that sounded well thought out. We would still have to convince the others but I'm in."

"You two would stay here and help rebuild cities that you never knew," Geyser asked, "I guess there is more to you than the hunt for gold and explosives after all."

"Ah don't get to emotional on me," Hags replied, "I just can't hunt gold and blow stuff up if I'm dead, and heading into Hell sure sounds like dying."

Geyser didn't reply just nodded his head producing a rrrrr, rrrrr, sound as the robotics of the armor moved with him. Haggard though about that for a moment then asked; "Hey why is your head rrrr-ing when the rest of the suit isn't?"

"Demon ran into me stripped of the right side of the face so that it is open to the air, probably lost some insulation so you can hear the sound," Geyser replied, "Suit protected me good though not even a scratch on me."

Character Kalathanon

"Your what," K asked.

"Were staying," Red replied, "Bad Co. is staying here to help rebuild, and heck I might even get my fishing time in."

K looked them over, the four soldiers turned treasure hunters were all standing as tall and proud as if they were about to be promoted, even the usually sloppy Haggard. The longer he thought about it the more he couldn't come up with a reason they should stay. He couldn't take them with him and the others into Hell, none of the human members could go with him there, only the Leviathans, the Freelancers, Cortana, the Primes, and basically anything else that had been in or would be immune to Hell and its destructive effects. He was going to need more people... but where?

"Ok," K resignedly said, "I promise we will come back for you though."

"That sounds good enough to me," Haggard replied, "After all I owe you a few."

"I'm staying too," Grish said, "You charged me to protect this world and I'm going to do just that, no more crazy adventures with you for me oh no."

"Grish, is that determination, or restraint I hear," K asked amused, "Last I checked you were never one to back down from an adventure."

"That was twenty years ago," Grishnake replied, "I'm older now, but still got enough strength to show the four of these men here some tricks, figured if there are any more demons left I'll still get my adventure."

"I can understand that," K said, "very well, Do you want to say by to the others or just let me tell them?"

"Just tell them we are sticking it out here until you all get back," Red said, "Nothing fancy, nothing all emotional like."

K nodded as he turned to leave the plains outside the remains of the city of Warfang. He was sorry to see Bad Co. go but knew that they would be fine here, compared with any of the other planets. As he took off to return to Doug's ship His mind wandered back to the question of where was he going to find people to replace those he was leaving behind, 141 and now Bad Co. next would be Delta for Serra was the next stop and Fenix had already told him that he and his squad were going to stay there, as was Jackson. Perhaps Ingitus, or Tyreal would Have an idea, or Beast and the Primes, yes he had options but he wasn't sure which ones would pan out.

C met he as he entered a hanger bay, he relayed the information about Bad Co and Grish to her and she nodded as she wrapped a wing around him.

"Haggard was one of the first members of DC," K said, "Its just going to be different with him not here to liven things up with a joke or explosion."

"So where are you going to get more power then to fill in the spots we are losing as we travel," C asked.

"Really the only ones left to go are Delta, Hawk and Fisher, Satan and his house, John and Arbiter, The Doctor and river, and the Red and Blue teams. None of them have experienced Hell and its corruption before and I won't take them through that," K said, "The Freelances were all in Hell before, Leviathans are unaffected by it, Tyreal has fought against it for so long, Beast was a part of it, Adam isn't human enough to be affected as is Cortana and the Primes are very used to it."

"What about the Champions," C asked as they walked through the main corridor for tanks and the like.

"You mean you don't know," K said in surprise, "The eight champions, you don't recognize there names? Alverion, aspect of Vigilance; Saphira, aspect of Grace; Pyros, aspect of Wrath, Kitara, Aspect of Temperance; Scion, Aspect of Death; Elly, aspect of Strength, Scaron, Aspect of Authority; and Elantra, aspect of Humility. The other eight of the twelve Leviathans that started our race, Lucifer and Mamon are both still lost to us, and you and I were gone for a long time."

C just stared at him then shook her head twice before flashing him a joyful grin and squeezing him to her. "Its really them, the others? That makes a lot of sense but why didn't I figure it out before now?"

"Because they have had years to develop their shells of protection, even from our own kind, considering," K replied, "Don't worry they will be just fine. I wonder about Starkiller though, he says he will be fine going with us but I don't know, and Marion definitely wants to get off before we go in for the long haul."

"K your back," the deep grating voice of Diablo called from just to their right. The large red demon lord was in a repair depot helping Elly fix a tank, "Wheres the others they decide to stay?"

"Yeah, they did," K replied, "Don't suppose you know off hand where we can get some new hands for the continuation of this war and what did Elly do to get you to help her hold a tank on its side while she worked on it?"

"Don't ask," Came both their curt replies. To which K and C raised an eyebrow. "Though I may know of one or two people who can help us out," Diablo finished.

"Oh shes all fixed up," Elly said as she slid out from under the tank. Elly, though a Leviathan as K now knew was currently in the form of an Amazon queen, decked out in ruby red plate armor, though it now had some grease on it, with the exception of a helmet. She instead wore only a braided band in her hair.

"Well lets see if she works," Diablo said, "Sheila you there?"

"Hello, and thank you for activating the M808V main battle..."

"Yeah we got that bit last time girl," Elly said, "how are your diagnostics?"

"Oh my apologies, but I am running at one-hundred percent capacity, thank you for fixing me up."

"A talking tank," Diablo muttered, "that Sarge just keeps getting more and more annoying."

"Sarge got you two to fix the tank, ur Sheila?" C asked.

"Hold that though," K interrupted, "Diablo you said you thought you knew of some one who could help, even in the attack on Hell?"

"Two someone's actually," Diablo replied, "you see I possessed the body of a warrior after my 'defeat' in Tristram but there were two others with him a Rouge, who we corrupted, by the name of Blood-Raven, and a Sorcerer by the name of Xarle, also corrupted. At the time I was only strong enough to bend the warrior to me, but that was because the other two were much more powerful than he. They may be in a position to help us though B.R. and Xarle were last seen raising an army to over through us from our hell."

"How would we get to them?" K asked.

"Oh a rift to their stronghold would be enough to get them to come to us," Diablo said, "I could make on now if you wish."

"Do it," K said.

With a snap of his fingers a red portal opened up beside Diablo and two figures collapsed out of it, followed by four massive demons with tree-like arms and dual wielding giant clubs. K brought down two of the demons and C the other two as Diablo closed the rift. On the ground before him lay a pale white woman with a red, low cut, top, a wide loincloth that latched around two hip spines, a helmet with two horns on it that rested on a fierce but disciplined face with tight lips, small nose, and currently closed eyes. She also had a crescent moon scar that just barely showed up on her left cheek that ran from the base of her ear to the corner of her mouth, and elbow and knee spikes. She was definitely a sight to see but the man beside her was just as imposing.

In a full blue robe with armored plating sewn in to it, the man was of a much darker skin, darker than even Redford's, or Johnson's, almost as dark as K's. Hi had no spikes, but his hands were clawed where fingernails should have been, his eyes, which were flickering open now, were a burning crimson-gold his build was much more sturdy than a normal spell-caster's would have been as the man was a good six feet tall and two and a half feet across and all muscled. Next to him his right hand still held on to a staff of surpassing ornateness and quality, while next to the woman was a bow that appeared strong enough to bend back most people if they were to try and use it.

"This is them," Diablo said, "Seems like they were getting overrun by Lucifer's minions."

"The woman radiates with the same power as the man though not as strongly," C observed as she reached down an lifted the woman, Blood-Raven, up to carry her out of the cold motor pool, K did the same for Xarle. "Interesting she has the abilities to warp energy the same as the mage there, and to summon the dead? Powerful indeed."

"Like I said," Diablo stated, "Only the warrior was weak enough for me at the time. These two , I think they might have loved each other, seems like they still might, even through the demonic influences."

"Uhh huh what the let me down," Blood-Raven snapped as she work with a start and smashed her bow into the back of C's head. The strike didn't even phase C who place the lady down. Now that she was awake, Blood-Raven was even more of an imposing figure than before, her eyes a smoldering red, arrayed around by strands of black hair, supported by a straight back and wiry muscled body that spoke of a warrior's life. And the spikes were even more enhanced with her figure poised like she was ready to shoot either C or K.

"I should have warned you B.R. is a handful," Diablo said.

At the sound of his voice, B.R., as Diablo had called her, spun around and had three shots into the demon's back before he could even howl or K and C could restrain her.

"Blood-Raven," K said, "Its ok hes a good guy now, we're all fighting Satan, the one who sent those demons after you and Xarle."

BR shook them off while Elly pulled the arrows out of Diablo, they had gone in surprisingly deep.

"How did we get here," Blood-Raven asked in a spectral-melodious tone that said she would fight any of them or all of them if she didn't like the answer, "And put Xarle down now." That last was said so quietly that even Elly glanced back at K and C.

"Diablo opened a portal to your fortress," K said as he gently laid Xarle on the ground, you two fell through followed by four massive demons carrying what looked like..."

"Like trees for clubs," A bleary eyed Xarle said as he rubbed the side of his head and got to his feet, "It seems we both owe you four for the timely intervention."

"Xarle that's Diablo," Blood-Raven hissed, "He Killed Adin, and Corrupted Us!"

"And yet we have done very well despite that, and now his intervention, for whatever reason saved us from a brutal beating, violation and then subsequent killing. So lets be a little more friendly than shooting him in the back."

"So you were awake," K said, "I though so."

"I didn't think I could hid it from a dragon but yes I was awake the whole time if a bit dazed from one of those demons landing a blow to my head. Raven how are you?"

"I'll be better once I know what is going one," She replied, but Physically, nothing a good night in bed cant fix."

"In bed with me you mean," Xarle said laughing, "I should thank you for that, Diablo, the demonic corruptions within us has made for some interesting nights."

"Get a room," Elly said, "And don't let Tucker hear you or..."

"Bow-chic-ka-bow-wow-wow," Tucker said as he rounded the corner at the end of the hall and then stopped in mid stride as he saw Blood-Raven and Xarle, "Wow, what are you two the pole dancer and the body builder?"

"And after I shoot him," Blood-Raven added.

"Tucker, GO!," K ordered, "Elly make sure he goes, Diablo tell your brothers and the other what happened, C tell them about Bad Co., Blood-Raven, Xarle, I am Kalathanon, Leviathan of Judgment, brother of Lucifer, and servant of God who can save all from the sin and corruption that has spread through creation. I am after my brother, to stop Hell from spilling out into all the realities, and I was hoping you two cloud help."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Xarle said with a sideways look at Raven, "Hmm."

"I say they prove it," Blood-Raven said, "Have them get Tom back."

"Who," K asked, "Is Tom?"

"K you know that we are Leviathans," Elly said, "So who then do you think stopped Diablo here in the first place?"

"Oh you've got to be joking," Diablo said, "Tom isn't, he is isn't he?"

"Yup the man who beat you all," Xarle replied, "And now you and your brothers get to help save him. You know I could get to like this the irony is beautiful."

"Where then do you need to go," Doug's massive voice echoed through the chamber.

"What is that," Blood-Raven asked.

"Ah hello," Doug replied, "I am Doug the pilot of this ship and Grave-mind of the Flood on this collegiate of ships."

"You can take us where we need to go," Xarle said rather than asked as he held two fingers to his forehead, "I don't feel you clearly but your presence is all around us. Well he was going to visit us but then our abode was over run with those tree demons and the like. Also some of those beasts with the wings and fire breath, how I hate overlords."

"Diablo can you and your brothers open a big enough rift to get all of DC through in one of these ships?" K asked.

Diablo stared at Raven and Xarle for a time before answering, "Not only can we do it we will make the biggest comeback that hell has ever seen, Doug get Malafor, Baal, and Mephisto to the bridge I'll meet them there and we are going to rip the sky off of hell."

"Sounds like fun," K said with a grin. He was now the only one left with Diablo, Blood-Raven, and Xarle the others having gone of to their respective duties and Diablo having had another priority in reaching the bridge. "Its been a long time since I was last in our old home, now that brings back memories."

"Wait you used to help them," Xarle asked, "That seems unlikely, and who is Malafor?"

"Well he did say he was the brother of Lucifer," Blood-Raven replied, "and even I know who that is."

"Malafor and the others you can meet in a bit," K said, "Blood-Raven, what did you just say?"

"That everyone knows who Lucifer is," Blood-Rave replied sharply, "And if your his brother..."

"Not on his side anymore," K said, "But how do you know of him, what else do you know that relates to him?"

"Archaic texts," Xarle said, "said to be older than Sanctuary itself and given to the first angles to walk the heavens and the first demon to walk the hells. That tome speaks of Lucifer the Prime of Primes, Arch-demon, fallen one and corrupter. But it also speaks of one who cut the head off this Satan and can end evil, forever."

"Jesus," K whispered, "every planet, all of time, made provision for... us?"

"Sorry what was that," Xarle asked, "I didn't catch that."

"Nothing for now, but later I will need to fill you in, I have more information in regards to those tomes," K replied with a wave of his hand. Then he lifted both of them off the ground and placed them on his back. "Ok D lead the way."

"Well at least I'm not having to carry them," Diablo grumbled, "Can't believe I'm going to help Tom."

K laughed as he started filling in the two new comers about DC and their operations thus far.

Character Blood-Raven

Blood-Raven woke up with Xarle's arms wrapped around her, the night before the Primes had concluded that it would take at least ten hours to create a large enough portal and they suggested that everyone get some rest. Well she and Xarle didn't necessary plan on resting but they always seem to end up that way in bed. She snuggled up against her rock hard partner and contemplated the events of yesterday. The introductions had been a whirlwind with dragons, aliens, robots, and people of all shapes and sizes. She still thought that Doug, the giant living mass of flesh, was the most bizarre out of them all. The creature seemed to have the nature of a father, but around K acted like a child, and the others obviously held a great respect for the, what was it... Grave-mind. Doug's ability to interact through any of the seemingly unconnected flood forms was a little disconcerting .

Xarle grunted and mumbled "Morning" as he squeezed her in a hug then yelped as he caught himself on one of her spikes. Blood-Raven laughed, a chiming ghostly sound, she found it hilarious that after almost forty years Xarle would still get poked by those spikes. She knew he didn't mind them though, as he was always telling her how sexy they made her look. Xarle could be a pig at times but he was a dedicated pig, only ever loving her, even among all the temptations of hell.

"This is Doug to ship's company the rift will be opening in ten minutes," Doug's voice echoed through the room.

"Ten minutes," Xarle complained, "Why couldn't he let me sleep another few minutes?"

"Well we technically had ten hours to sleep," Blood-Raven said, "Its not his fault that we are more... creative than that."

Xarle rolled out of the bed, a square metal thing with a foam-like mattress and pillows that could all be adjusted with a control on the bed. He smiled and whispered to her, "Worth it."

"Good now get dressed," Blood-Raven said, "We're not going to let those overgrown lizards and our arch enemies be the only ones to get Tom."

Xarle grunted at her as he threw on his garments then the plated blue cloak that he wore. Blood-Raven was already dressed and waiting by the door. "What took you so long," She teased only to watch his eyes rove over her then roll as he slid the door open and shook his head. That caused her to laugh again, her voice echoing off the walls adding a reverberation to her already unearthly tone. It was that laugh that brought two people into the hall, a man and woman with the woman being taller than her counterpart. Raven recalled them to be Hawk and Fisher.

"Ah good-to-go," Fisher said, "Seems we are both alike in that regard, having to drag the hubby out of bed."

"Oh come on," Hawk said, "we're supposed to take you to the bridge when you are ready."

"See," Xarle said, "He should have given us ten more minutes. Hawk you seem like a smart man."

"Try convincing Fisher of that," Hawk said with a grin, "She knows better."

They continued to talk on the way to the bridge, the couple were amazingly like Xarle and herself, minus the corruption of course. The conversation was pleasant, giving life to the cold metal halls that comprised the... spacecraft, yes that was it. A strange idea being able to fly amongst the stars but it was what they were doing so she couldn't argue with its impossibility. It struck her that anywhere else these two humans would have been uncomfortable around the, but then again all of DC was comprised of strange and especially dangerous individuals. She wondered what made these two so unique.

"So why did K bring you two along you seem normal compared to most of the others here," She asked.

"Xarle you use magic right," Hawk said, "Cast something on us."

Xarle nodded and Blood-Raven saw the spark of a healing spell light up his hands but to her surprise it diverted around Hawk and Fisher and dissipated. Xarle then tried a flam wave spell that made the walls glow from the heat of it, but that too diverted around the pair.

"Magic slides off of us," Fisher said, "All magic, beneficial or harmful."

"Seeing as there are more uses for harmful magics, not a bad predicament," Xarle said, "remind me to not make either of you mad at me."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Hawk said, "Raven, based on the holes you put in D's back I would guess that you are good enough with that bow to drop both of us if we tried to hurt either of you. And here we are, would you look at that."

Before them was the viewing window on the bridge and all of DC was there arrayed before it, beyond it where there should have been space was a huge red portal.

"Ok everyone's here," K said from atop a raised platform, "Doug take us in."

The ship detached from the cluster with a lurch that almost unbalanced Blood-Raven and did knock Xarle down, but then it sailed smoothly through the portal. What she saw on the other side however was not what she was hoping for. Their entire fortress was being burned down by the demons causing a huge cloud of smoke and ash to rise into the air. It was not big enough to hide a ship as massive as the battle cruiser they were in and Demon flew up in the thousands to fight them.

"Doug," K said, "Tell Cortana that she can have some fun with these guys."

"Done," Doug replied, "And there she goes."

Blood-Raven watch in fascination as a giant metal human-like contraption flew past the bridge's viewing window and slammed into the oncoming demons with both blazing energy beams and massive fists, all while dodging effortlessly the thousands of attacks that were flung at Cortana.

"Raven," Doug called, "How does Tom usually travel?"

"By a demon rail, its a bunch of demons that are linked together and follow the same paths from place to place," Blood-Raven replied, "And don't call me Raven."

"Sounds like a train," Coal said, "Anyway there is some large mass heading towards your house from the right."

"That's him then," Xarle said, "We need to get him off that rail before it reaches our fortress."

"So high jacking a demon train? How hard could that be?" Adam said enthusiastically.

"Shouldn't be too bad," Spyro said, "A few of us maybe three or four, and a handful of passengers to deal with any unwanted guests. Blood-Raven and Xarle you two should come of course, I can fly you in. Cynder, John and Arbiter, could be another, Ingitus if you would, Lucifer and Daemon, and Cyril, with Tex, leaving room for Tom."

"Sounds good," Cyril said, "K?"

"Doug how close can you get us to that train?" K asked, "And how quickly."

"We are going to be over it in three, Spyro get your teams to the hangers this is going to be a flyover then pick up mission, we can deal with the rest of this hell later," Doug said.

Blood-Raven was already almost on Spyro as they started the run towards the hangers, so she hauled Xarle up as Spyro unleashed the true speed of his robotic suit. They arrived at the hangers in one and a half minutes, with the rest inside only a minute after.

"Ok we will drop you all off on the top of the demons," Spyro said, "then you blast your way to Tom and take him out the right side of the rail. Blood-Raven I'll let down this rope for you Xarle and Tom to grab onto. Got it?"

"Understood," Tex said from behind them.

That seemed to be good enough for Spyro and as the rail came under the ship he and Cynder launched out of the craft followed by Ingitus and Cyril. Some of the flying demons who weren't being dashed to bits by Cortana decided to try their luck with the team and headed towards the team.

"Don't worry about the demons," Spyro said as he hovered over the demons on the rail, "We'll take care of them."

Xarle nodded as Blood-Raven dropped down into the first demon. The rail system was made up of demons who's insides were hollowed out and the shells were used as a semi-living transport, still having enough life from the trapped soul to move and repair itself but not enough to do other than what it was told. It was inside on of those hard, chitinous, dark shells that Blood-Raven and Xarle found themselves. The others were dropping in farther forwards, so only the last four compartments were what Blood-Raven and Xarle had to search. The one they were in was empty except for themselves, but they could feel the corruption of demons a car or so ahead. Xarle moved up to the door as Blood-Raven readied an arrow on her bow and nodded to him. He opened the door and launched a fire ball into the empty room. They checked the demon for any passengers but found none and then moved up to the next door. The corruption felt stronger as they drew closer. Xarle once again positioned himself by the door ready to open it once she was ready. Her bow raised and arrow drawn she nodded to him and he opened the door and followed up with a fire ball.

The howl of demons hit them almost as fast as the demons did, Blood-Raven was able to get three shots off, dropping three demons, before she had to fall back. Xarle wasn't putting up with the demons hassling her and a large man shaped golem rose up before her and started beating on the closest demons. Blood-Raven dropped two more targets and Xarle let out a nova of lightening, but still the demons came on. Then an explosion rocked the demon-car, and the door on the other side of the room shattered open and all the remaining demons fell to the floor, dead. From the light coming from the door Blood-Raven could see the outline of some one and she called out, "Tom!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Whats New Bros

Character Soap

"Check," Price said.

"And I'll take that rook," Ghost said, "Oh check."

"Well I'll take your bishop and ha jeopardy and check," Price responded as the chess pieces moved and changed hands again. It was the twos' fifth game today and Soap was sincerely hoping that something, anything, would be of interest when next Lucas and the Legionnaires reported in. The last game he had to step in and pull Price off of Ghost after the two got into a brawl over an 'illegal' move. Their problem was they both took chess way to seriously.

"Soap," Anjali's haunting voice called, "We've found something."

"Wait, did I hear that right," Ghost asked, "they found something?"

"Sure did," Lucas said as he walked into the conference room, "We found an old temple deep in the Amazon, and guess who is carved all over it."

"Its K isn't it," Price said, "Figures actually."

"Well what do you say," Soap asked, "ready to go delving into the past of our secretive friend?"

"If you are going into that structure then have fun," Katarina said, "someone has to stay here and monitor the rest of the world."

"It actually would take three of us," Reinhardt said, "since I assume that all of 141 will want to go with you Lucas, Anjali and myself will remain here to help Katarina with the up keep of the scans."

"Wow what a team player," Lucas remarked.

"So where is this temple," Soap interjected, "I don't want this to take more than three days."

"Ah yes," Reinhardt said as the white-haired man pulled up a map on the over head projector. "Here about twenty-two miles south east of a little village that rests along the southern side of the Amazon river." He pointed out the locations of the village and temple with a laser pointer. "Now Carter's firm is kind enough to lend us his plane Bertha so getting you there should be no problem, assuming one of you knows how to fly."

"We do," Soap replied, "Is Bertha ready to fly?"

"Actually yes," Anjali said, "She is parked outside with a full tank ready for you to use."

"Finally something to do other than watch you two play chess," Soap exclaimed, "Come on lets go."

"Blarg it," I was about to win too," Price said, "Fine the game is on hold, lets go see this temple."

Soap was impressed with the plane. Bertha sported a cargo hold large enough for two thirty ton tanks and requisite crew and ammo, a roomy and comfortable cabin with leather lined chairs, polished red oak tables and various kinds of wine. The controls for the plane were neatly integrated with the weapon systems to provide easy access to either functions even when only one person was flying the plane. At this time he and Price were driving, which was an interesting experience.

Price, for all his good qualities as a solder, leader and friend, was also more stubborn than a mountain range and he was extremely vocal at making know what he would be doing if he were the pilot instead of co-pilot. Soap ignored half his comments and made slight concessions on the other half just to keep the peace. Meanwhile Ghost simply had to show Lucas how to use and clean the pistol they had given him. The kid showed promise but was still better with the sword and shield he usually carried, an attribute that Soap thought would be useful if any of those demons with the large claws showed up at this temple.

"Ok now we should start descending at about five degrees a minute our destination is about forty-five minutes away," Price said.

"That's to long of a descent," Soap argued, "no we want to come in fast and steep."

"How steep are you thinking about," Price said, "a straight drop?"

"Not quite straight," Soap said, "I do intend on pulling up at the tree line."

Price looked at him, "Well good to see I taught you something then," He said.

True to his word Soap dropped Bertha into a steep dive about thirty minutes later. As they passed through the clouds the village came into view, and it was in trouble. Demons were flying and rampaging around the burning remains of the village and the inhabitants were being gathered up for some ritual, or dinner.

"Ghost, Lucas, get ready to fight we got company," Soap shouted back into the cabin.

"Here lets see how demons like these guns," Price said as he fired up Bertha's weapon systems, "What will it be machine guns?"

"Just don't kill the civilians," Soap said as he pulled out of the dive and started a slow circle over the village. The twenty or so hut-like houses that made up the village were already mostly burned down, allowing for a clear view of the demons and the people they were attacking. The plane barely even vibrated as the three pairs of .50s light up the startled demons below. The ATA missiles took down the fliers just as quickly as the .50s cleared out the ground space.

"All clear," Soap asked.

"Clear," Price replied, "Taker her down."

Soap activated the vertical landing gear and put the massive plane down just next to the ravage village. As the four of them exited Bertha they were able to truly see just how timely their arrival had been. The villagers were gathered in the center of their razed homes, but they were all still alive. An old man with deep gray eyes, bald head and short, white beard came forward.

"You've returned," He said to Lucas surprising Soap with his clear English, "These creatures, came from the ruins you went to last time, please stop them before they destroy not only our houses but our family as well."

Lucas came forward and knelt before the old man, "As far as it is within our power we will stop them," He replied, "Now all of you get inside Bertha, and close the doors you will be safe in there until we return."

"There is a control button on the right side of the door press it to close up the plane," Soap said. Then he turned to Lucas, "You didn't tell us they could speak English."

"Only Tamil, their elder, can," Lucas replied, "What I didn't expect were the demons, it may be that our scouting of the temple caused the demon to come investigate it for themselves or more likely the demons were imprisoned there when it was sealed and are now released."

"Either way now we have a mess on our hands," Price said, "Lets get to work."

They started off into the jungle, at first it was easy following the paths that the villagers had cleared but after about the seventh mile the jungle got much denser with the ground covering plants being much more abundant. Lucas drew his sword and carved a path through them under Soap's directions as they followed a GPS to the Temple's location. Lucas hacked tirelessly through miles of jungle showing now signs of stress or weakness as the environment threw everything it had at them; from a tributary of the Amazon river to a swarm of large ants to spiders the size of their heads.

All of which paled in comparison to the first demon they met. To say that the demon was large would be an understatement, the serpent-like creature was a good hundred feet long and had a head the size of a large boulder, most of it was filled with rows of teeth that stuck out from under its lips. The brown-tan coloring of it made it blend in with the trees and scattered patches of sunlight that filtered through the thick jungle canopy. The demon remained perfectly still as they approached it, probably waiting for them to get within its striking distance, or waiting for them to get so close that they couldn't escape. Soap called a halt, even though he could see the top of the temple from where he stood.

"Is it asleep," Ghost asked.

"No," Price replied, "Its waiting, stay on your toes."

"Lucas is there any way you can get this thing to focus on you?" Soap asked.

"Sure is," Lucas said, "After all that's what I do."

"Ok Price, Ghost you two head around the side of its head, almost out of its vision, but let it focus on Lucas, I'm going to head to the other side, Lucas you signal when you've got its attention."

"Trust me bros you'll know," Lucas said as he pulled out the pistol, "Lets see how this little bee stinger works."

Soap drew in power from the demon and melded into the shadows as he moved around the demon. Lucas planted himself right in front of the creature and Ghost and Price were hanging just inside the beast's left most field of view. Lucas cocked the pistol and fired off six shots in rapid succession. The demon roared as it lunged forward, gaping mouth open to devour Lucas, Price, and Ghost opened up on the beast while Soap charged in and leaped onto the demon. Lucas held the demon at bay with his shield and sword while it got its left side riddled by Price and Ghost. Soap was on its head now and pulled out claymore mine. He shot two holes in the demons head, causing it to jerk up and almost throw him off, so he could plant the mine so that it faced down towards the demons skull. Then he ran to the back of the thrashing creature, tentatively holding onto it as he turned and shot the claymore. The explosion threw him off the demon as well as throwing Lucas away from its head, but the brains and blood that were spilling out onto the jungle floor was worth the singed hair and bruised knees.

"Creative work," Ghost said as he picked up Soap, "Mind waring us next time though?"

"Sure next time we encounter a giant snake demon in a jungle I'll warn you before I blow it up," Soap said, "Lucas you ok."

"Yeah I'm good," Lucas called back, "Well ok I'm not eaten, or dead, or both, so yeah."

"Right then lets see what this temple has in store for us," Price said.

They pushed their way out of the jungle into a clearing that surrounded the temple. The structure was small, as temples go, only being about thirty feet above the ground, but the twenty foor tall door said that there was more in this temple than the top part. All across it were carvings of K in his various forms and temperaments.

"Dang, This must go way back to when K was working with Lucifer," Soap said, "If its his demons that are in there we should be very careful."

"No blarg," Ghost said, "Like the tip of an iceberg I wonder how far down this goes?"

"With our luck," Price replied, "Very far."

"Lets go we're wasting daylight," Soap said as he started for the door. They made it inside without any other problems, well except the smell which reminded Soap of a stagnant pool of water filled with dead eels. "Guys keep an eye on the walls, If this is a temple built for K then it should have plenty of history on him in it," Soap said, "I'd be interested to know just what our friend used to be." The others agreed with silent nods, each one also keeping an eye out for trouble. Lucas was in front, his shield partially raised, then Ghost and Soap followed by Price. They proceeded in this diamond formation for some time. All the while Soap's eyes were practically glued to the walls, as they told a horrific story of K from long ago.

The carvings depicted K first as him in human form, as he established a kingdom in the Amazon, then as his power escalated his tyrannical rule of tribes long lost to time. A panel came along that showed the tribes attempting to overthrow K but instead when they sunk their blades into his body he erupted into his half form and enslaved half of the tribes as demons. As his increasing harshness and cruelty took hold, he instituted a sacrifice of the ancient people to turn some into demons to replace those that were killed during the frequent attempts to overthrow him. He even went so far as to turn women so his demons could replenish the ranks faster.

As they descended deeper the panels showed K in his true dragon form, as a ruthless, heartless, demon lord who ruled the entire continent from Canada to Argentina. Then the carvings ended, and Soap looked up to see that they were faced with a massive stone door, that blocked their path forward.

"Well that explains why this side of the world developed so much slower than the rest," Ghost said.

"This trumps anything I've ever seen before," Lucas said, "I'm going to have some very pointed questions for our 'friend' when he gets back."

"I want to see whats on the other side of that door," Soap said, "Look at the carving on it, it shows K being dead and imprisoned here."

"We can't risk blowing it up," Price said, "The structure is too unstable for that."

"Pry bars then," Ghost offered as he pulled one free from his backpack.

"No," Soap replied, "This needs a little magic. There is still enough energy for me to pull something together, stand back, I'm not sure what is going to happen when I do this."

Drawing in the remaining demonic energy that lingered in the temple, he placed his hand on the door and released the power through that hand. The structure responded with an audible grinding sound as the door shook then lowered into the ground, what he saw behind the door made even him freeze as it lowered. There in the center chamber, chained to the walls by two dozen chains, was K's skeleton. There was no mistaking it for his because of the circle of neck spikes that surrounded his skull.

"Tread lightly," Price said, "There is no telling what his remains can do even after he is gone."

Unfortunately saying that was the very thing that caused the skeleton to twitch. They froze, another twitch, then a claw ground into the ground.

"Guys, Run," Soap said, "That is K, or what he left here, all of the evil that he caused he poured into that body, and now we woke it up. Run!"

They ran as the sounds of creaking bones, grating stone and snapping chains followed them back up through the temple. "Rise my minions," the hollow voice that sounded almost like K echoed up to them. "Rise and crush these intruders." At that carvings on the walls fell away to reveal the twisted skeletons of things that might have once been human. Some crawled on all fours using their teeth and claws to strike out at the four as they passed, some walked upright and swung wicked looking spears at them of tried to impale them on their overly large horns.

"We have to stop them," Lucas said, "If we don't then this shadow of K will be able to raise and army capable of taking over the entire world."

"I know," Soap replied as he drew to a stop at the entrance of the temple, "But first we must take care of these skeletons, weapons up, they don't get past the entrance."

"Finally," Price exclaimed, "I knew you weren't a coward. Let me guess only the demon inside the temple are coming back to life?"

"Waking up more like it," Soap replied as he discharged a clip from his SAW into the oncoming monsters, "But yeah none to attack us from behind. Lucas take point."

That order was unnecessary as Lucas was already charging the skeletons as ferociously as they were charging them. Soap didn't focus on what Lucas was doing, him being occupied with shooting the demon-skeletons, but even with just glances he saw that once again the Legionnaire was proving his superiority with a blade. As the pests were clearing the dragging of chains and creaking of bones could be heard. "My army my be gone but now you will die by my hand, maggots," The shadow K said as it emerged into the light.

"Oh yeah," Soap said, "We'll see about that, Lucas use the mine."

Lucas dashed forward and slammed his shield into the side of the shadow's head, causing it to grunt and swipe its fore-paws in retaliation, sending Lucas flying backwards. Price and Ghost fired their weapons to draw its attention to them while Soap aimed for the claymore, that was now stuck to the side of K's head. As it turned to fight off Ghost and Price he fired detonating the claymore. K's shadow growled as a piece of its head went flying off, but instead of going down the creature stayed up, albeit with black and red energy leaking from the side of its head that was missing its skull.

"Fools," It said, "I... cannot... die!"

Soap hit the floor as he dodged a wave of the disintegration breath that K was so fond of. Lucas charged back in with a shout and was on one of K's shoulders and hacking away at the bones in his neck. Ghost fired an RPG into K's read left leg and Price threw a grenade to Lucas who caught it , primed it and stuffed it into an eye socket, before jumping clear. The RPG blew off the leg it hit, causing more of the energy to spill out of the shade, then when the grenade exploded, obliterating the rest of the skull the creature roared a long, pained, howl then collapsed to the ground. Behind it the temple shook and then also collapsed in on itself, removing any trace of its purpose.

"Well, that was invigorating," Price said, "but lets not do it again anytime soon."

"Agreed," Soap said, "lets get back to Bertha before it gets dark."

A few hours later just as the sun was going down, the four arrived back at Bertha. The villagers were still inside and were eager to hear what had happened, they had apparently hear the death cry of K's shade. As Lucas filled in Tamil, Ghost walked over to Soap.

"Hey what do say about sticking around to help these people rebuild, after all we have two days left before we need to go back," Ghost said.

"Well, well charity from you," Soap said, "Whats the occasion?"

"You know how I feel about fires," Ghost said as he pulled just enough of his mask up to reveal the marred skin that he had as a result of almost being burned alive. "I figured since it was Lucas and them who kinda disturbed the nest we might as well help to fix the damage."

Soap though about saying no for just a second, but then he looked out over the villagers. All of them were ready to start rebuilding and none expected any help, they wouldn't think less of them if they just left, but he agreed with Ghost, they had the time and resources to help so they would. He walked over to Lucas who was still talking to Tamil and said. "We'll have plenty of time tomorrow to finish the story, for now open up the food stores in Bertha and get these people something to eat, also see what building supplies we have. The next two days are going to be busy."

Lucas smiled and nodded as he broke off to gather the supplies, Tamil just stared at him before saying "thank you" then walking away. Soap got a pat on the back from Price as he too headed into the plane to help Lucas, followed by a "Good idea lad." Soap couldn't help himself as he grinned and walked over to help distribute the food and water.

Meanwhile back with Bad Co.

Character Haggard

"Phew," Sweetwater exclaimed, "This rubble is heavy."

"Yeah," Preston added, "Hey who's idea was it to stay here?"

"Hey cut it out," Redford said, "As long as I get to fish during the off hours I can do this all day."

"Your just watching," Sweets replied, "How does that count?"

"Its managing," Red stated, "And I've got years of experience managing you all."

Haggard laughed at the banter between them as he hefted another block of marble into a cart. After DC had left, he and the others remained on in Warfang to help with the reconstruction and in case there were any more demons to show up. Grishnake had stayed with them and he and the old orc had gotten along quite well. For someone who was the equivalent of ninety Grish was strong agile and sharp, he also like weapons and explosives almost as much as Hags did.

"Here this should liven you up," Red said as he pulled out an iPod and the stereo attachment. Shortly "We Built This City," started playing to which Sweets groaned but Preston started whistling along to. Grish lumbered up an empty cart being pulled in each hand. He nodded at Red, in appreciation of the music, then grabbed the two full carts that Hags, Sweets, Preston, and yes even Red, occasionally, filled. Then the giant orc turned and dragged the carts off to the Moles' who were reshaping what they could to use in the reconstruction.

"I thought we stayed to help with clearing out the demons," Sweets said, "Why are we here, doing this?"

"Cause they haven't found any demons yet," Red replied as he helped lift a larger block that Sweets was fighting with, "Besides its safer than fighting demons."

"Yeah, I guess that's true assuming that the crumbling buildings don't fall on us," Sweets said.

"Sweets chill man," Hags said as he too moved in to wrangle the large block off the pile and into the cart, "I'm sure we can have demons snapping at our necks soon enough. Wow this guy is really stuck, hey Preston a hand here?"

"Sure thing," Preston said as he walked over and got on the last corner.

"Ok on three," Red said, "One, two, three lift."

With the four of them straining their muscles the large block shifted then came free with a hiss.

"Hissing, that can't be good," Sweets said.

"Lets just get this to the cart," Red huffed.

They maneuvered the block out of the rubble pile and into the cart, before they saw what made the hissing sound. It was the sand-like remains of the mortar that held the blocks together that had flowed down into a opening that led under the city.

"Well there's something unusual," Preston said, "wonder whats down there?"

"Probably nothing good," Grish rumbled as he came up behind them with that stealth that belied his large frame, "We should check it out, you have your weapons?"

"What you mean that you carry fifty pounds of weapons on you while you are dragging those thousand pound carts," Sweets said, "Of course I don't."

"No I actually carry about a hundred and fifty pounds of weapons," Grish stated.

"Well its a good thing that I brought your guns and ammo," Red said, "there in the cooler."

"Is that why we never see you get anything out of it," Hags asked.

"Yup, its cause I don't want to dye in a surprise demon attack when I'm so close to a fishing hole," Red replied, "So I keep up with all your stuff too. Just be thankful we aren't in the real military or I would would be doing something creative and nasty to each of you for not keeping up with your guns."

They got their weapons and then lashing the carts together with the rubble in them used the ropes to lower themselves down into the hole, Grish went first followed by Preston, then Hags, Sweets, and Red. Once he were inside and his eyes had adjusted Hags saw a large ornate chamber, covered in pictographs, and scattered with gold and gems of all kinds.

"Whoa, looks like we can retire," Red said, "this is a treasure fit for a king."

"That's probably cause it is for a king," Grish said as he pointed to a depiction of all the races of Avalar, dragons included, bowing before a large, purple, dragon.

"That can't be Spyro this place is older than he is," Hags said, "Actually its probably older than Malafor too, cause he seems like the type to raid places like this."

"Well if its not them then who is it," Preston asked.

They looked at each other then Hags walked closer to the picture. He waved Grish over, "Hey you picked up how to read their languages while you were here right"

"Yes," Grish replied, "Let me see. Hmm. This is old, only scraps of this dialect remain in the Tower but I can make out three words, Hero, Chronicler, and First."

"Chronicler, isn't Ingitus a Chronicler," Hags asked.

"Yes, the most recent in a long line," Grish replied, "This may be an antechamber in the crypt of the first Chronicler it was said that he was the first one to save the planet and thus he gained mastery over the four elements, like Spyro, plus time was his to warp, like Ingitus."

"Hey Grish, How do you know so much," Sweets asked as the other three moved in to look at the carving.

"I've spent the last twenty years here," Grishnake replied, "And I may be a bit of a history buff."

"Guys if this is an antechamber," Preston said, "Then how much wealth is in the rest of the tomb."

"He's right," Red added, "The city needs money and there has to be a ton of it here." Everyone looked at him like he had three eyes. "Ok yeah and we will get to keep part of it, finder's fee and such."

"That's what I like to hear," Hags exclaimed, "Lets go round us up some loot."

"Well if its the treasure your after then be glad that Red brought the guns," Grish stated.

"Why," Sweets asked, "What's down here?"

"You know those monkey skeletons that were twisted into Malafor's service," Grish continued, "Think about how powerful a dragon would be if it volunteered and remained down here this long."

"Ok now this doesn't sound like a good idea," Red said, "Lets go back up and get the moles to dig this out."

"We can't do that those little guys wouldn't even have a fifth of our chance against whatever would be down here," Preston replied, "I say we at least look around there isn't any guarantee that there is any guards down here anyway."

Red sighed, "Why oh why do I keep letting you all drag me into these situations?"

"Cause deep down you care sarge," Hags replied, "Now come on I see the door over there."

The door was half filled with rubble, probably knocked loose when the building on top of it collapsed, but Grish shoved their way inside. Beyond the door the light from the hole in the chamber's ceiling diminished quickly and they turned on their flashlights. What they saw had even Hags stunned, the hall was not just lined with gold but was made of gold encrusted with gems of varying size and rarity, starting with pink diamonds and getting more valuable from there. They came across several other chambers all filled with history and wealth before the hall came to a dead end.

"Huh, That's odd," Hags said, "No tomb or anything?"

"Its a portal," Grish said as he ran a hand across a raised arch on the wall, "Normally a dragon would have to open these, but sometimes with just the right touch..." The wall flared to life revealing a chamber with a giant carved dragon statue in its center and more wealth than any of them could comprehend. "They can open to a non-dragon," Grish finished.

"That is the greatest treasure ever, of all time," Hags said.

Sweets whistled, Preston just stared, Red and Grish walked through the portal.

"Hey, No fair," Hags said as he to dashed through, "I get to loot some too."

The two whooshes behind him told him that Preston and Sweets had followed him in, Red and Grish were not looting the place however but were intently looking at the dragon in the center.

"Guys come on," Hags encouraged as he grabbed a handful of gems and let them slid through his fingers, "Look at this."

"I think we might want to look at the dragon that is sleeping on it," Grish hissed.

Hags got real quiet as he and the others walked over to Red and Grish who were right at the nose of the dragon. "What do you mean," Hags asked.

"Wait for it," Red replied.

Hags watched the dragon for almost a minute and was about to go back to looting when an almost undetectable curl of smoke came out of its nostrils. "That can't be," Hags muttered.

"Sure is the dragon is sleeping inside a stone statue of itself," Grish confirmed, "Odd that it hasn't woken up yet." Then "Hello!" Grish bellowed the sound echoing off the walls of the room.

"What are you doing," Sweets cried, "Trying to wake it up?"

"Yes actually," Grish replied, "If it didn't wake up for that then noise must not be a trigger to the spell that has kept this dragon in its prolonged sleep."

"If not noise then what," Red asked, "Maybe taking some of the treasure?"

"Probably," Preston said, "It looks like it was meant to be in a public area, somewhere where noise and contact with others would be common, so it must react to the disturbance of a certain object or set of objects."

"Grish what do dragons hold closest to them?" Hags asked.

"Well from what I've seen its knowledge," Grish replied, "Perhaps a scroll?"

"Found one," Red said as he pointed, "But its not going to be fun to get."

Hags followed the indicated direction to see the scroll, clutched in the paw of the dragon.

"Really," Preston said, "I could have seen that one coming."

Grish reach over and pulled the scroll out, Hags and the others back away but nothing happened.

"Oh get over here you babies," Grish rumbled, "Besides I don't think that this dragon is going to harm us, even once its awake."

"That's great," Sweets said, "But I'd like to stay closer to the portal. Just in case."

"The scroll didn't do anything, see any others," Preston said.

"Hmm," Grish mumbled and scratched his head as he opened the scroll, "This is very hard to read its old and faded and in a dialect that was mostly lost thousands of years ago, however, I can make out two phrases. One is guardians or guarding, and the other is heart, meaning or life. The second one could be any for those though."

"I got it," Hags said suddenly as he understood the puzzle, "What dragons guard most closely, what gives them life and meaning, the one they love. Like C did for K, Spyro for Cynder, the pattern goes on. So that still leave us with how to wake this guy up."

"Well something to do with its mate," Grish stated, "Like that statue over there." He walked over and picked out of a pile of gold coins and jewels a small silver statue only about two feet tall and a foot and a half across, then carried it back over to the stone dragon.

"Here," Sweets said, "I think I see a place for the statue to go on the base."

Grish walked over and set the little statue down, as he did so a line of light cut through the stone encasement of the dragon then another one followed by a spider webbing effect that broke the stone into little pieces that then all fell off the dragon to reveal a shimmering purple hide. Two massive wings shot open as the dragon stabilized itself then it turned its head to look at them and Hags got the full scope of the creature's size. Its eye was his his size, its head as long as a bus, the body the size of a mid-sized battle ship, but despite all that it didn't eat them.

"Ok so we aren't dragon food," Sweetwater said, "That's good."

The dragon whipped its head around to look at Sweets, who froze as it licked him.

"Blagh," The dragon said, "No you definitely are not food, but if not then why are you here, what are you?"

"We are friends of your kind," Grish said, "It was a Leviathan who brought us here, and to help the dragons is the reason we stayed here when the rest of our team left to continue a war against the dark one Lucifer. I am Grishnake, This is Haggard, Redford, Sweetwater, and Preston."

"We are here mainly due to an accident," Hags said, "We uncovered the entrance to one of your side chambers while clearing rubble out of the streets of Warfang."

"Warfang," The dragon said astonished, "its built, its finished?"

"Well its kinda broken right now the demons hit it pretty hard," Red replied, "But yeah it still stands."

"Good, good," The old dragon said, "Ah its been too long since last I was free, I am Orthino, First Chronicler of Avalar and master over the elements. I thank you for my freedom, but I must know how did you figure out what to do?"

"Lets just say that we know some people that are a lot like you," Hags replied, "But right now, we need to get back to the city, its still recovering from the beating it took and this treasure of yours would be perfect to help rebuild it, not to mention you own considerable strength."

"My services you have but not the treasure," Orthino replied, "For it is not mine to give, it all belongs to Yari, my mate."

"You mean that this tomb isn't yours but is hers?" Preston asked, "That explains the pink."

"Yes the Rose-diamonds, her scales were the same color," Orthino said, "I'll come with you, I have remained here too long and the memories of the long past weigh heavy on my mind, but her treasure stays here."

The dragon said that last bit in a no arguments tone, even being old certainly had not taken out of Orthino how to rule, or get his way. Then the old dragon lifted each of them onto his back and opened a portal in the ceiling which he jumped up through, and appeared right out over the walls of Warfang.

"Its more beautiful than I had imagined," Orthino said as he got his first look at the city, "Last I saw of it was just the blueprints. Ah but what a sight it is going to be when it is reconstructed!"

"Looks like we drew out a crowd," Hags said, "here come some dragons."

Two dragons, young ones, one blue-green and the other gold, rose up to meet them.

"Oh hey Chris, hey Ve, look who we found, the first Chronicler of your race, Orthino," Hags said.

"I don't even know what to say," Chris said, "Your a legend of a myth, its an honor."

"Ah cut the crap kid," Orthino said, "My time was ages ago, I may be powerful but I am due no honor from any of you, not until I've helped rebuild my city anyways."

"Well your about as temperamental as old Ingitus is now," Ve said, "I always did like that about him."

"Ingitus," Orthino muttered, "That names is familiar to me, is he..."

"The current Chronicler," Hags finished, "Yeah but he is off with the rest of our squad helping other planets fight off Lucifer's invasion."

"Lucifer, you mean the Lucifer, the head of Satan?" The elder dragon asked horrified.

"Unfortunately yes," Redford said, "You seem to know him."

"Oh I know him, it was his wife who killed mine," Orthino snarled, "Well if its a fight he wants I'll give em one, now lets get this city rebuilt."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Are We Done Here: Take 2

"_Its so good of you to join me," Tom said, "I would never have finished developing my newest creation for Xarle without your help. _

"_Not a problem, it was a simple matter to infuse the shell with explosives to create the mine effect once stepped on" The man in, bluejeans and a vest with a thick beard, chest hair and unruly mop on his head replied, "And it looks like you are going to get to try it out soon there are demons outside and your friends are in the next car back."_

_ "Ah yes Old Xarle and Blood-Raven never could let a fight pass them up," Tom replied, "Well I guess we should save them." _

Character Blood-Raven

An explosion rocked the demon-car, and the door on the other side of the room shattered open and all the remaining demons fell to the floor, dead. From the light coming from the door Blood-Raven could see the outline of some one and she called out, "Tom!"

"Don't worry beautiful," Came the reply in Tom's cocky yet intelligent voice as a second figure joined his in the door way, "We got your backs."

"We," Xarle asked, "and what was that explosion?"

Tom walked out of the door way followed by a very rugged looking man. "Oh the explosion is my newest idea, mine turtles, zombie mine turtles," Tom said. Tom was almost handsome, even to Blood-Raven, with his pale semi-translucent skin, black, stubbly beard and pointy white hair with the red tips... Red Tips? She would have to fix that. He also sported twin skulls on his shoulders and a black leather jacket, pants, boots, and gloves, all lined with bones. Tom was a necromancer.

"Tom what did you do to your hair," she asked him.

"Oh you noticed the dye," Tom exclaimed, "Yes I thought it was a good idea and my friend here agreed."

"Yes who are you," Xarle asked the man in the man in the vest.

"Lets just say that I'm an old friend," the vest man replied, "Now I must be off, Tom use the turtles responsibly." And with that the man was carried off by the wind.

"How did..." Blood-Raven started.

"I've just stopped asking," Tom interrupted, "So whats new with my two favorite demons?"

"Long story short," Xarle replied, "Fighting, demons, portal, dragons, and stuff, now rope out side of the car climb on."

Looking to her right Blood-Raven did see the rope had just been dropped down for them to grab onto. She moved over to it and pulled it inside the car. "You two go first," She said, "I'll be able to catch you if you fall."

"You just don't want me looking up at you," Tom said with a laugh as he grabbed onto the rope, "Come on Xarle."

She watched the two make their way up the rope before hauling herself onto it and climbing up onto Spyro. When she reached the dragon's back Tom had already introduced himself and was talking animatedly with Spyro, while Xarle was stretching his arms out. Blood-Raven walked over and leaned against him, breathing in the subtle smell of burning leaves that always hung around her husband. It was odd for her to think of him like that but after Tristram, the corruption, and now this and they were still together, what else could Xarle be to her.

"Hey you two love birds stop cuddling," Tom said, "Tell me about this group you've fallen in with, I hear that I may remember some of them, or they may remember me."

"Oh yes the Primes," Blood-Raven sighed, "Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto are joined with us in this adventure, but its to fight Lucifer."

Tom looked first dark, a mood that suited him as far as she was concerned but then looked curious. "The Lucifer," He asked, "From the..."

"Yes, him," Xarle replied as he finished stretching his arms and put one around Blood-Raven.

Tom exhaled, then stroked his beard, then ran his fingers through his hair. "Are you sure about this?"

"Certainly not," Spyro replied, "But K is his brother so I'd say we got a fighting chance even before we bring God into the picture."

"God, as in the God, creator of reality, savor of souls, the Just and Holy God," Tom asked and he truly did sound afraid this time.

"According to K yes," Spyro replied, "I, personally, believe him. It makes sense given the context I have for K. Cynder and the rest of my family agree and so do most of the DC crew, except maybe Adam, and the AI's. Though I'm not sure if they count as AI's now or if they are people. It sure is hard to tell them apart."

"Tom what are you talking about," Blood-Raven asked, "God what God, which God?"

"The one from those texts," Tom replied, "The same ones that describe Lucifer, I've translated the rest of them. They tell of the Creator, the One who made and keeps all things, who died so all souls could be his, and who has ultimate authority over everything. None are to powerful for Him to stop, and none can stand before Him."

"Tom, it sounds like your are reading to much into these old text," Xarle said.

"If they are right about Lucifer...," Tom replied.

No one said anything else for the rest of the ride until the ship came into sight.

"Wow," Tom said, "Now that is about as impressive as the metal dragons and people you've found, but I don't see Diablo and crew anywhere."

"Check below," Blood-Raven replied, "By our old fortress."

Below them the telltale signs of Diablo's lightning inferno, Baal's hoar frost, and Mephisto's lightening were lighting up the remains of the demon hoard that invaded their home. Along side them was Cortana in her giant robot, ACU she recalled was the name. Tom was glued to the sight of the massive construct.

"What is that," he asked.

"That is Cortana," Spyro replied, "One of the 'AIs.' Though now I think she counts as alive."

"Very interesting," Tom said, "Very interesting indeed. Who are the others?"

"Well Tex over there, is an AI and Church is the other one," Xarle said, "That's assuming I remembered those right."

"You got them right," Spyro confirmed.

"Spyro," Malafor called from below, "Are you just going to hang there or are you going to let the new comers help fight for their home?"

"Take us down," Blood-Raven said, "I'll not let the Primes set foot in my fortress without being there to watch their backs."

"Glad to see that you are so easily adjusting to this new arrangement," Spyro said as he landed beside Mephisto and added his own spray of lightning to the fight.

"If we have learned on thing," Blood-Raven replied as she jumped down and fired off two arrows into the nearest demons, "Its how to adjust and quickly."

A fire ball from Xarle flew past and blew up at the feet of three of the Mauler demons that had chased them through the portal. Then she heard a "Hello" followed by an explosion then another and another. Tom was raising undead turtles that exploded on anything unlucky enough to step on them. As ridiculous as the spell was it was very, very, effective; leaving only little bits of whatever triggered the explosions. Within minutes the courtyard was clear and they headed for the main gate.

"So this is where you two have been hiding," Diablo remarked, "not bad."

"Ok you all go inside," Cortana said, "I'll stay out here and guard from more attacks."

Blood-Raven nodded as she pulled the concealed release for the gate, then moved into the awaiting shadows cast by the flickering torches that lined the ebony stone walls of her keep. Off of the stone walls echoed the chorus of demonic grunts, growls, and demented laughter that betrayed the presence of the foul creatures that waited within. Xarle and Tom were on either side of her, the alien Arbiter and the armored John were just behind them carrying their very large sniper rifles, then came Dameon and Lucifer followed by Tex.

"Hold up," John said, "Ten targets coming in from the right."

Blood-Raven was about to say something but before she could a pack of almost dog-like demons rounded the corner from the right and charged them with a howl. The demons were very skinny like skin stretched out over a bone frame. They sported pure black orbs for eyes no ears, nose or any other fleshy part on their lithe frames, even their legs dwindled down into just the bones of their claws on each paw. Their tails however had a curved needle-like bone that boasted a nasty poison, and their fangs dripped with molten substances, that smelt like both flesh and rock.

The pack skidded to a stop just ten feet away, as if waiting for something, then one of them leaped forward and exploded in the air. Blood-Raven heard a grunt from behind her and turned to see Daemon bracing himself against his brother. Before she could get a better grasp of the situation, however, the remaining nine beast attacked. Out of the ground between the dog-demons, and herself rose a wall of bone, then a blood golem; Tom's handy work. He cast another spell, probably one of the many curses he knew, then backed up behind John. Xarle raised a golem of his own though it, unlike the blood and bone construct of Tom's making, was more autonomous and would wander off once these hounds were dealt with. Blood-Raven had spells of her own that she had picked up during her own adventures while fighting Diablo but they were not on the same level of Xarle's.

"Careful, those things are much stronger than they look," Daemon said, "Took half of my considerable energy to explode just that one. I dare not repeat that feat right now."

"Don't worry," John said, "Bullets don't generally care. Tex you want to show them how its done, or should we?"

"Stand aside," Tex said, "This will only take a second."

"Its already done," Tom said, "Listen."

Blood-Raven did listen and heard nothing, nothing not even the dogs' breathing.

"How did," Arbiter asked?

"Iron Maiden curse," Tom replied, "reflects physical damage back on the aggressor but at five times the amount, the dogs didn't have much of a chance since all they had were melee attacks. They killed themselves on the bone wall."

"Good," Blood-Raven said, "Now get it down so we can move on."

Tom snapped his fingers and the wall collapsed revealing the lacerated corpses of the demons-dogs. Blood-Raven nudged one with her arrow just to make sure the beasts were dead, then nodded and moved on through the hall way. She was headed for the main chamber, Xarle and her's bedroom, since that was where the general overseeing this rabble of demons was last seen. A large brute, twelve feet tall, nine hundred pounds, all scaly, boney, reddish-orange plated muscle that had three yellow eyes and carried a massive ax, the edge of which was as long as she was tall. The demon, like Xarle and herself, might have been human once because the rest of its body was shaped in the same manner as theirs.

As the seven of them approached the doors to the bedroom, a deep, rumbling, voice spoke up as the doors flew open. "Now you will either serve master Lucifer or die resisting him!" The general ducked through the doors and straightened up to his full height in the vaulted hallway where a swing of his ax would take out the entire party. Behind them more of the demon dogs blocked the path back, they were stuck.

"Let me get behind him," Tex whispered, "Just distract him for a second or two." Then Tex backed up behind John and melded into the shadows.

"Well why don't you tell us your name then," Blood-Raven said, "After all if its a fight I'd like to know who I'm going to kill for messing up my house."

"You challenge me? Very well, Vron will see you all dead this day," Vron, the general, replied. Then he started swinging his ax and pressing them all back towards the hounds. Tom's golem, and the five skeleton warriors that he created from the dogs, rushed forward to meet the giant as an Iron Maiden appeared over its head. The ring of Arbiter's and John's guns echoed from the walls as they opened up, twin black beams jutted from Daemon and Lucifer's hands and pierced the scales on Vron. Xarle raised a golem of his own, then four guardians, three headed serpent-like creatures, erupted out of the ground and started spitting fire balls at the demon, followed by fireballs of Xarle's own. Blood-Raven was letting fly arrow after fiery arrow that found their new home in Vron's head, chest and neck. Then Tex appeared behind the giant and pulled out two, turtles? She ran and jumped onto the demon's back as she threw the mine turtles towards the walls, then planted four spike grenades on Vron's head before jumping down back into the group as Tom surrounded them with walls of bone. A second after Tex landed an explosion shook the bone prison and the ceiling collapsed, but was caught by the invisible powers of Daemon and Lucifer. They flung the pieces off the top of them and onto where Vron's mangled corpse lay.

"Well good riddance," Xarle said, "Well, I see now how well you all work together, glade we're on your side."

"Thanks," John said, "What about the dogs?"

"I'll keep them of course," Blood-Raven said, "After all I'm the most powerful demon around so they are mine now. They can stay here and guard whats left of the fort, good thinking bringing down the ceiling on him like that."

"I figured it would be the only thing large enough to kill him," Tex said, "so I used it."

"Creative," Tom said, "Glad the turtles are coming in useful. Now show me this ship of yours and let me meet the rest of the crew."

"I'm sure K would be happy to introduce you," Blood-Raven said then with a smirk, "As for me and Xarle, well lets just say we can get creative too."

Character Kalathanon

"Ah the troublesome Tom makes his grand appearance," K said as Blood-Raven and the others returned to the hanger with Tom, "Nice hair."

"Thanks," Tom said, "And you must be K, a pleasure."

"Well might as well introduce you to the crew," K said, "Though I see you've already met several of them."

"Well I had already known Xarle, Blood-Raven, Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal, but If the rest are as interesting as those here I will be glad to meet them."

"Well, This is Doug," K said as he waved to the biomass that was Doug which encompassed the ship, "Doug say hello to our newest member."

"Hello Tom," Doug's deep gravely voice thundered, "Welcome to my ship."

"Its a ship," Tom said, "No your nit the ship are you?"

"No, I simply inhabit and drive the ship," Doug replied, "But I am not the actual vessel in which you are standing."

"Doug is a Grave-mind," K continued as he led Tom through the hallways of the ship to the bridge where the others would be, "A massive parasitic life-form that can take control of the bodies of our enemies and use them against our foes."

"Like an animator?" Tom asked.

"Not quite," Doug replied, "I also gain access to the individual's knowledge and have the choice of allowing them to keep their mind even after the transformation into a Flood. Such is the case with Johnson who you will meet momentarily."

"Ok That's one who is as interesting as I had hoped," What about your self, I hear rumors of some very impressive history on your part."

"So Raven did peak your curiosity about me," K chuckled, "That's good. Well to start with I and most all the dragons on here are Leviathans, meaning we are far more powerful, and have more responsibilities, than any normal dragon, Carter and Cloak are also Leviathan though right now they are in a human form. Originally there were twelve of us, twelve Leviathans, Scaron, Elantra, Pyros, Kitara, Scion, Elly, Alverion, Saphira, Lucifer, Mammon, Celantra and myself."

"Hold up," Tom said, "Your saying that the Lucifer is a Leviathan?"

"Was," K sadly replied, "He, Mammon, and I lost that title when we rebelled against God, along with Moroni, Ashera, Baal, and Moloch. Together we were collectively called Satan, but now, I am redeemed, and Moroni has been erased from time. The remaining five are still trying to subvert this creation and its up to me and DC to stop it. So That's my background, am I completely free from my demonic side, no, but now I channel it, harness it, and turn the demon's own powers against them. Just don't be surprised if I sometimes act more like a demon lord than a servant of God, because I am both. I would be willing to speak with you more on this if you wished but the others are gathered and ready to meet you, I have business elsewhere right now but Doug can preform the introductions. Welcome to Dragon Company, prepare for the weird and the wild."

K left Tom at the entrance to the Bridge where Doug was waiting in a flood form to escort the necromancer into the other members of DC, but K needed to talk with Spyro, Ignitus and Malafor and so did not have the time to mingle with the rest of his friends. The three dragons were waiting for him down in the hanger with the rest of the crew who helped get Tom.

"Ah so our rascally Necro is on his way to stardom then," Xarle asked as K reentered the hanger.

"Something like that," K said, "Well I was just going to ask for a conversation with Spyro, Ignitus and Malafor but I might as well include you all, since your here. We have to decide what to do about the various worlds that are invested in us, Earth, Avalar, Serra, Sanctuary, San-Helios, to name a few. I don't know if we have the time to go to each world that we have been to and fight the demons there, but we may be able to leave a group of several of us on each world, Delta and Jackson have already declared that they would stay on Serra: Marion, Starkiller and Satan's family will remain in Kirkwall when we return there but if we lose to many I doubt we will have sufficient numbers to lay siege to Hell."

"Who can go into Hell anyway," Diablo asked, "Even in our hell, we didn't just let anyone walk in."

"That's the other thing," K said, "Only those who have already been in, have some form of protection from, or are strong enough to endure Hell can get in. Now after Marion's group leaves that will be the last of those who don't meet those requirements, so all the rest of us could go, but that leaves only a few of us on each world."

"That is probably the best bet then," Cyril said, "We don't want to call attention to the groups that we leave behind so they have a better chance of taking any demonic reinforcements by surprise, while at the same time conserving our strength for the main attack."

"I must agree," Ignitus added, "Even as it saddens me to leave our friends I know it is for the best."

"And besides if we fail in Hell, then even if we left you and Celantra on a planet eventually you would be overwhelmed by the flood of darkness that is poised to spill out into creation," Malafor said.

"Agreed," Cynder said, "The bulk of us must stay together to stand against the rising tide."

K looked around, noting the expressions of his friends, even the stoney-face Blood-Raven. They were determined to see this fight through. "Well then enough chatting," K declared, "Lets get upstairs and see how Tom is getting along."

Tom was getting along just fine, sitting back in a chair feet propped up on a navigation panel, swapping out stories with Tyreal to the rest of DC.

"I knew this assassin once, brilliant girl really but to high strung for me, she was fantastic, could slip a dagger or one of those fancy fist blades in and out of three monsters before the first one hit the floor," Tom was saying, "We roved the foothills outside the rouge monastery for many a night after Andarial was vanquished, by me of course, cleaning up the remaining monsters and such. But eventually we had to go our separate ways, mine led off to the east towards Baal, while hers headed more to the north some crazy mage or something that needed to be dealt with."

"Are you still telling stories about Luna," Xarle asked from K's left as his group walked in.

"Obviously," Tom replied as he jumped down from the chair, "You know, you could have told me that Tyreal was with you guys, would have saved me quite a shock seeing him helping his arch-enemies."

"Alright you've had your fun now time to do some work," K declared, "Doug takes us back to the main cluster, Delta get your things together your going home!"

"Yeah now that's what I like to hear," Coal yelled, "Serra, baby, the Coal Train is coming to save you!"

"So are we done here," Fenix asked.

"That we are, though we will head to Sanctuary for a time as well," K added, "After going to Haven and Kirkwall."

"Preparing to make the jump in five," Doug said, "Hold onto something."

K shifted to his half-form and dug his claws into the ground, C and the other dragons did the same, the Spartans activated their gravity boots, but Delta, Tom, Blood-Raven and Xarle were still reaching for a railing when the ship jumped. K caught, Xarle and Jackson, Tyreal caught Tom, Baird and Coal, Fenix and Dom steadied each other, Anya pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the wall to keep her footing, and Blood-Raven back-flipped over a lose chair that was sent her direction, before landing on her feet and grabbing onto a railing. Then the ship was out of the hyperspace jump and another lurch rocked the crew, but they were ready for it. Out of the viewing window was Serra, a world of extreme creature, terrain, and most importantly people.

"Ok we've no idea what the demons have down on the planet," K said, "But the over arching goal is find the gates and neutralize them. Now that won't stop the demons from emerging but it will slow them down considerably. Fenix get on the radio with Hoffman, tell him that DC is back."

"Got it," Fenix said, "Hoffman this is Fenix, I'm in orbit above the planet right now, how are things down there?"

"Fenix?" Came the reply over the radio, "I don't believe it do yo u have like a sense for when things are about to implode? We got a new enemy the likes of which you wouldn't believe, if that K fellow is still around I'd be real appreciative of his help right now."

"Yeah he is still here and we got some other friends too," Fenix replied, "Where do you need us to put down?"

"Bout the only safe place anymore is the town of Mercy, all the survivors on the planet, Locust included, have gathered there for our final stand, but with you all back maybe we will have a shot at this yet, I'm too old to fight these wars Marcus, and you all should be too, unless your time with that freak has made you all as ageless as him." Hoffman replied.

"Old or not we will still help," Fenix responded, "See you in thirty." Then with the radio off, "K he is right we've been gone for twenty years, how is it that we have not aged?"

"That happens to those who are around Leviathans a lot," K replied, "And the effect is increased with the more Leviathans that you are around and you all have not just been around a lot of Leviathans but eight of the most powerful of our kind. Scaron may I?"

"Certainly," the elderly man replied.

K gathered his power then unleashed it on Scaron, Elantra, Alverion, Saphira, Scion, Elly, Pyros and Kitara, in a white wave of searing light, that caused even Tyreal to look away. After the wave passed however in the place of the eight Champions, stood the other eight original Leviathans. Scaron was a combination of fire and water, the two flowing and swirling along his outline, Elantra was the same but with wind and rock. Alverion was a deep rusty color, similar to RuGaard, but with a hard sheen to his scales that shone like sunbeams. Saphira was a sparkling watery blue, the polar opposite of the other Saphira's coloring.

Scion was a deep almost blackish green that seemed to draw in the light and hold it within his scales, Elly was an amber color with a similar translucency to her scales that allowed one to see her skin under them, a unique feature that no Leviathan or dragon has had since. Pyros was comprised of blue and white fire that flared and sputtered throwing off smoke and heat in considerable amounts until he turned down the intensity of his fire to a warm reddish-orange. Kitara was ice, equal in complexity and intensity to her mates fire her ice would move like a glacier shifting and cracking then reforming within the confines of her outline.

"Behold the Leviathans, our siblings," Celantra said, "all are here save Lucifer and Mammon, but I hope that this gives you an idea about who and what we go to face."

"So we are ageless then," Jackson said, "Just like you Eragon," the closest of the three riders.

"Aye you are all bound to us just as we are bound to all of you," Scaron said, "It is the privilege and responsibility of a Leviathan. Our friends are not scarred by time, but neither can they ever really be a part of time again. So we must always be there for you all, because there will never be anyone else who can be."

"Well That's just great," Fenix said, "Now Hoffman really will have ammo for jokes. Lets just get down there and see what is so bad that it has the humans and locust working together, that will be a sight."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 While You've Been Out

Character Fenix

Mercy was a dilapidated old town on the whole but it did have some perks, the direct access to fuel was one and a very sturdy church building was another, also the many deserted houses and buildings served as great places to have snipers and scouts hole up and surprise an enemy. Fenix looked around him as he and DC were led into the town, of the humans maybe three hundred were left on the whole planet, the locust were even worse off, only about a hundred. The echoes of many recently dead screamed at him through his paladin senses, the whole world was shouting against the violence it had seen. Fenix shook his head as he, Dom, Coal, Baird, Anya and K entered the church to speak with Hoffman.

"Well you really are the same," Hoffman started.

"Who is that," Fenix asked pointing to a well armored Locust that was seated behind the standing Hoffman.

"You must be Marcus Fenix," the locust said, "I am Throon, last of the elite generals that were supposed to guard the Queen. We failed, obviously, otherwise you would be dead, but as it stands I can look past the fact that you killed my Queen and see you now as the last hope for what is left of my kind."

"So your working with us now that something bigger, badder and meaner than you showed up," Baird said, "Figures."

"Hoffman," Fenix addressed, "Tell us everything."

"Fenix," Hoffman said, "Their ain't much to tell one day the rifts started opening then the demons came, driving human and locust back like straw in a hurricane, until here we are the last of both races huddling up here for the end. We didn't have enough firepower without the Hammer online to fight the demons, and even Throon here could only save a few of the locust siege beasts."

"Yeah what did you get," Dom asked.

"Two Corpsers, four Brumacks, five Reavers and one Rock-worm catapult." Throon replied a hint of sadness creeping into his crackly voice, "those twelve out of a store of almost two-thousand."

"And the demons," Fenix asked, "What kinds are they, shape, size, weapons, any information on them?"

"Some, most of the demons are about twice our height, have spines that they shoot like bullets, some are dog-demons, others are even larger, with wings and fire breath. Then there is their leader, or I hope it is their leader, a massive creature, thousand feet high, I've no idea its weight but it's got some markings on it burned and carved into its flesh and scales, from its spiky snout to its boney tail. No idea what those do but we hit it with the last of our nukes and it didn't even stop that thing."

"The markings," K asked, "Can you describe them?"

"Yes," Throon replied as he handed K a piece of paper, "I made a sketch of them to see if I could find any meaning to the pattern. What do your eyes tell you Seer?"

"Wait what did he just call you," Anya snapped.

"Shh," K replied, "These markings are both good and bad. If the creature has these then it is not one of the five remaining demon lords, but it does make it invincible to anything that is alive or dead, save God of course."

"So how do we kill it," Hoffman asked.

"Hmm, alive or dead huh," Fenix said, "I wonder if Cortana is warmed up to the idea of taking this thing out."

"Well, I might get dirty," Cortana said, "But I guess I can get you to clean up the mess."

"What are you," Throon asked.

"No one knows," K said, "After she became a Sentinel Cortana has not been anything other than... on?"

"Well that's a very simple way to put it," Fenix said, "But I think we may have just run out of time, look." He pointed over the tree line to the south where a large hulking shape could be seen moving towards them. At the same moment the front line of demons emerged from the trees only a thousand feet away.

"Gears take up your posts," Hoffman ordered, "Fenix do whatever you need to, just keep my Gears alive."

"Will do," Fenix replied, "K, Delta is going to get creative, if we kill that big demon will his hoard disperse?"

"More than likely," K replied, "But the threat will remain, just not as organized."

"Then I'll take it," Fenix said, "Zar you and the others mind carrying us?"

"If you don't mind the boney ride," Zar said.

"Just get us in fast and keep the demons occupied," Dom said as he gave a knowing nod to Fenix. He had obviously figured out Fenix's plan.

"I assume that I am going with you," Cortana said.

"Yes, you and Johnson," Fenix replied, "I figured that neither of you count as alive or dead."

"Good cause I'm not letting you have all the fun," Johnson said as he jumped onto NooMauk, the skeleton of an ancient dragon that was brought back from the dead, like Zar.

"Glad to have you," AuRel said. He NooMauk, Zar, Irene and Jizara were all reanimated dragons who had died at one point in time or another. Now their necrotic skeletons once again housed their souls, and they had K to thank for their renewed life.

"So I'll ride in on Cortana," Fenix said, "Each of you choose your partner and lets go."

"We'll stay here and keep the demons out until you finish off the big guy," C said as Cortana lifted off. Then they were on their way, demonic projectiles bouncing off the heave armor on the ACU.

"Look out, catapult!" Fenix yelled.

"Hold on," Cortana replied as she activated her wrist jets and pulled a three-sixty to dodge the incoming fireball. Fenix held on with one hand as he pulled out his pistol. The next fireball that came at them he shot causing it to explode in the air. "Nice call," Cortana said.

"Thanks," Fenix said, "Now kill that big guy."

Cortana increased the power to her jets and sped towards the mountainous demon.

"Die bugs," The monster boomed, "You cannot harm, Garvex!"

"Why do demons talk in third person," Fenix asked.

"Probably because they are full of themselves," Jizara chimed.

"Fenix," Dom called from Zara's back, "You and Johnson are going in, we are going to intercept those winged fire-breathers."

"Don't get crispy," Fenix replied as Cortana headed away from Dom and Zara and towards Garvex, who was sending a stream of crackling, black energy at them. Cortana dodged and Fenix slipped his feet into two holes to hold himself steady while he opened up with his lancer. Cortana followed up with three blasts of incendiary nanobots. Johnson and AuRel came up from the left AuRel's blue fire scorching a path through the few flying demons that came towards them and Johnson's sniper rifle and shotgun sending a rain of lead towards the demon.

Garvex, who was obviously not expecting to be hurt, roared as the nanobots set him ablaze and Johnson's bullets hit home. Fenix saw that there were four of the flying demons that had gotten around Irene and Baird and were heading towards him and Cortana. He adjusted his position and opened fire. Cortana spun around to avoid another beam of energy, the maneuver cost Fenix his position on the fliers and his lancer. He whipped out his pistol again and as Cortana brought him back in line with the approaching demons he fired off the last twenty three rounds that he had, dropping two of the four demons. With a shotgun and a grenade left Fenix was running out of options.

Another spin and he caught a glimpse of Garvex, the demon was not looking happy and a bit crispy and bloody to boot. The first of the two fliers came within range of his shotgun and was subsequently killed by it as was the following demon.

"Fenix," Johnson called, "You got any explosives?"

"Just one grenade," Fenix replied, "Here catch." Fenix tossed the frag grenade which Johnson caught in an impressive display of dexterity. Then AuRel climbed into the sky about the demon's head. Cortana continued to evade Garvex while renewing the stream of nanobots that were slowly incinerating him. With fourteen shots left and with no chainsaw bayonet Fenix was feeling relatively useless as he held onto the ACU as Cortana continued the aerial acrobatics. He looked up as a dark spot caught his eye, it was Johnson in free fall. Fenix watched as his friend fell straight towards the demon. Garvex looked up and opened his mouth, out of which came another mouth that was snapping and following Johnson as he fell. Then AuRel swooped in from behind the demon and caught Johnson just a few feet away from the vicious tongue-maw that was threatening to consume him. Disappointed the mouth withdrew and a beam of energy was sent after the two. But a few seconds later Garvex jerked and the stream sputtered then went out, as did the beam heading for Fenix and Cortana. One massive clawed hand reached up and grabbed at the creatures throat as blood dribbled out of its mouth. With a bellow Garvex ignited, a furious column of flame and smoke burning up through the demon until he was consumed leaving nothing but ash and huge gouges where the massive feet had torn the ground.

"A mix of explosives ingested caused an explosion that severed all the blood-vessels in its neck," Cortana commented, "Surgical."

"Suicidal," Fenix replied, "But I've done stunts that are just as crazy. So is it dead then?"

"Your asking me," Cortana said, "Your the paladin what do you sense?"

"Well the oppressive evilness of it is diminished, only the demon hoard is left," Fenix stated after sending out a spike of awareness. "There is something else though, but I can't place my finger on it. The important thing is if the lesser demons are retreating."

"That they are," Cortana said, "Ivan just signaled me that the attack has turned into a rout, no losses for either the humans or locust."

"You know my father would have loved to have lived to hear that sentence," Fenix said, "He always wanted to see the humans and locust working together. The wars, the Lambent, and now this before we figured out how to cooperate. I guess sometimes you need a bigger evil to kill a lesser one."

Cortana didn't reply but by the way the head of her ACU turned it was obvious that she had heard him. The others grouped up around them as they headed back, with congratulations being directed towards Johnson and Cortana, and disbelief towards both Fenix and AuRel. Anya hopped over to Cortana's ACU and gave Fenix a bear hug which he returned.

"So about us settling down and having a life," She said absently, "I've decided against that. If it ever gets less exciting around here I'll probably go crazy from boredom."

"And I don't guess the not aging part of this crazy adventure has anything to do with that," Fenix replied, "How are you taking the news?"

"Well it figures really," she said, "I guess just hearing it officially is disconcerting. But I'm more concerned about Dom, with his wife and all..."

"Yeah, I'll keep an eye on him," Fenix said, "Now to ask K about what that Throon said."

"The 'Seer' bit," Cortana intruded, "Yes that is interesting."

As they landed back in Mercy Coal let out a "Whoo!" as he carried Johnson through the assembling crowd.

"Hey Fenix," Cortana said teasingly, "want to carry me?"

Fenix and Anya just laughed at that, even out of her ACU Cortana was many hundreds of pounds with her completely metal body. Far to heavy for him, or all of Delta even, to lift. They reentered the church where K, C, Marion, Hoffman and Throon were looking at maps that were laid out over five different tables.

"Ah good," Hoffman said as he look up to greet them, "After you killed the demon the hoard fled, not sure why even without their leader they could have won if it were not for your friends here."

"I'm sure K wouldn't let that happen," Fenix said, "But I do have to ask... 'Seer'?"

"Oh yes," K muttered, "I used to help the locust a long time ago and apparently my involvement in their creation was a bit over exaggerated."

"Over exaggerated," Throon replied, "You were the guiding hand in our creation, no you were greatly under-exaggerated in the stories."

"He did what," Anya asked.

"I may have let slip a bit of genetic engineering to some over eager scientist many years ago who inadvertently created the locust and several of the large predators that roam your world," K continued, "Moroni and I worked for a long time setting those events in motion."

"So this was back from when you were still..." Coal said.

"Still a head of Satan," K finished, "Yes it was and yes the Locust were designed to destroy this world. I am glad that they never did."

"Well we can't change your past," Fenix said, "So even if you are the reason for billions of deaths those are on your head, and I for one will consider that payment enough."

"I... Thank you," K said, "Are you all in agreement with this verdict?"

"I am," Baird said, "The past is gone, unless we go messing with it, no reason to interfere with what we are doing now." Coal nodded his head in agreement, and even Hoffman and Dom, who had both lost people who were very close to them to the Locust weren't disagreeing. Anya just looked at K then at Fenix and sighed before adding her 'Ok' to the table.

Then Throon stood up, "K I hope you know what you just did," said the eight foot tall Locust. "These people have lived out lives in constant pain, grief and heartache because of you and your conspirators creating my people, and they just forgave you for _**ALL**_ of that. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for my race, my people but that right there is a very powerful thing you've created, far more powerful than us."

"Don't lecture me," K snapped, "I know. Every second I hear the cries of the condemned souls that I caused to fall away from God, every one I killed haunts me, taunts me, this is as it should be until the balance is restored."

"K," C and Marion said.

"Apologies," K said after a deep breath, "No matter how long I have been separated from the others I am still, in part, Condemnation and sometimes that bit of me flares up."

"Skeletons in the closet for another time," Marion said, "Back to finding the most likely spot for the demon gate."

"What are our possibilities," Fenix said eager to put the conversation behind them for the moment.

"Well, there is the old palace for Myrra, the Wastelands, and Char," Hoffman said, "Only places open enough for a portal large enough to fit that big demon through."

"Then lets go check them out," Fenix replied, "Delta will head to the palace since we probably know it better than anyone else save the locust. Who wants to take Char and the Wastelands?"

"I will go to Char," Marion said, "Starkiller, Adam, Riza, and Beast can come too."

"We will be glade to see that haunting figure go," Hoffman said, "That creature is no more right than the demons themselves."

"Careful," K snorted, "I've got forms that make Beast look like a tame puppy in comparison."

"So who gets the Wastes?" Dom asked.

"The Doctor can go," C said, "I know he will be happy to take soil samples from there. River will go with him of course, and probably John, North, and South, ever since the tunnels in Avalar they have seemed close."

"Right then" Throon said, "I'll take you to the palace, how will your friends get to their places?"

"Don't worry about them," Baird said, "they will get there."

"Well this will be a first for me," Fenix stated with that grin-sneer that he picked up somewhere, "Working with a Locust on my side."

Character Marion Hawk

"So this is Char," Marion remarked as she looked out over the ashen city.

"This is horrible," Riza said, "I've seen destruction on planetary scales but nothing this haunting, this mocking."

"Well its my kind of place," Beast said, "Come on Adam lets go look around."

"You two check the crater, we'll go through the remains of the town." Marion said, "Starkiller sense anything?"

"Just echoes, so many dead, you could hide an army of demons in here and go undetected," Starkiller replied, "Riza anything on the motion tracker?"

"All's still for now," Riza replied from inside her ACU.

"Well, lets go," Marion said, "Here let me up."

She climbed up to the shoulder of the Command Unit, while Starkiller jumped to the other shoulder. They proceeded into the city, or what was left of it, looking for anything that was out of place. Even though Riza's ACU was large, the city's remains were much bigger. Occasionally they would catch a glimpse of Beast and Adam as they roamed through the crater that carved the city in half, but they seemed to be drawing blanks as well.

"There are a lot of basements and sub-levels under the streets here," Riza said, "I'd better not take the ACU any farther If I go with you it will be on foot from here."

"Star," Marion asked?

"I don't sense anything out of the ordinary but as I said before that doesn't count for a whole lot around here," Starkiller replied, "best I could do is give a seven to ten second warning about an ambush."

"Good enough for me," Marion said, "Lets park it by Beast and have Adam join us while we comb the underground."

"Fine," Beast grumbled, "I'll watch the robot, just don't get killed down there I don't want to sit here all day."

"Yeah we care about you too big guy," Marion replied, "If we aren't out of there by sunset go get back up."

Beast nodded as he sat down next to Riza's ACU. Riza had gotten out and now stood beside Adam who had handed her one of his many weapons that he carried. It happened to be a light combat rifle, not to much kick, twenty rounds a clip, and fully automatic. Marion still preferred her hand cross bows, if for no other reason than how quiet they were. They were ready and so headed across the bright, reddish-orange clay of the crater and into the dim, cement lined underground of the city. Starkiller was in front, due to his light-sabers and unique abilities. Then Riza and Marion were in the middle with Adam at the back. As the last rays from outside faded, Adam turned on his flashlights and Star his sabers.

They continued in that fashion for an hour or so, until Star had them halt due to movement in the tunnel ahead. As they advanced Marion could feel the tension building then the light from Adam's flashlights reflected off two eyes. Eyes, which belonged to an adorable, white-haired, kitty-cat.

"Well hello there," Marion said as she knelled down to stroke the cat, "You haven't seen any demons in here have you?"

"Purr, Purr," The cat replied as it rubbed against Marion's leg then, "Actually yes, would you like me to show you?"

"Wait did the cat just..." Riza asked.

"We've encountered stranger," Adam said, "One of them is still outside."

"If you don't mind," Marion replied, "I'm Marion, this is Starkiller, Riza and Adam. I have a friend who would love to meet you."

"Marion," The cat said as it started to walk off down the tunnel, "Nice name, I knew a gray called Marion. Nice lady, I am Jinxirattuholingtonbumin, or Jinx for short."

"Well Jinx," Starkiller said, "Where did you learn to talk?"

"Oh no where," Jinx replied, "I've simply always known how, watch your step there are spines in this area that will pop up out of the ground if you step on them."

Marion was fascinated by the cat, Jinxirattuholingtonbumin, Anders would have fun with that name. Jinx, seemed totally indifferent to the dangers of the underground city, or their intrusion into it, or the demons for that matter, enough so to make Marion think that maybe this simply was a talking cat. Well that impression lasted until she, for Jinx was female, walked up to a wall and yowled at it, causing a small shock wave to break the wall down.

"Now that is interesting," Riza commented before returning to her conversation with Adam over hair styles. One thing being in DC does for you is take the surprise out of the strange and simple leave you with the wonder and curiosity.

Jinx was a talkative creature, and soon Marion was wrapped up in a conversation with Jinx and Adam about the finesse of a kill and how to rate how much finesse any one kill had over another. Before they could figure it out however, Jinx announced that the demons were on the other side of the wall and would be pretty angry about her knocking down the wall.

"Just do your bit and get behind us," Marion said, "We'll kill the demons."

"The four of you," Jinx said, "Unlikely, but go ahead." She then did the yowl and the wall crumbled to reveal a larger tunnel that had been undisturbed through the many wars on Serra. It also happened to be packed with demons, and in the center was a red portal, a rift. The demons, ranged from the dog-demons, to the spiked variants, to a few large fire-breathers that flew through the tunnel, and one demon whose head was so large that they could only see the glint of light off its fangs at the end of the tunnel. With a collective roar the hoard charged them.

"Back through the wall," Riza said, "Choke point them and then we should be good."

Adam acted as a shield, the spikes that were shot at them ricocheting off his metal body, while Starkiller, Jinx, Marion and Riza went back through the wall before he too followed. He and Star each took one side of the hole while Marion and Riza both set up the kill box with their bullets and arrows, even Jinx would occasionally yowl a demon to death if it got to close to her. The issue that faced them was eventually they would run out of ammunition, then it would be Adam and Starkiller vs the many demons that would be left.

"How many demons are in there," Riza asked.

"As many as that portal can sustain," Jinx replied as she cleaned her paw.

"Then what is making that portal," Marion asked.

"The big demon at the back," Jinx said as after she yowled another demon then resumed her washing.

"Oh the one whose teeth we can see all the way from here, great," Adam said, "Do you know what it is?"

"Smells like a snake," Jinx replied, "Looks like one too."

"You guys are thinking about charging aren't you," Riza said, "If so I want a shotgun"

Adam tossed her one, and Riza raised a green eyebrow, "burst attachment and incendiary rounds? It's almost as if you like me."

"Any girl who can run a mech like your ACU deserves such a gun," Adam said, "Now get all touchy feely later lets kill some demons."

They readied themselves and as they repelled the next wave of demons, charged in. Marion had her bolt gun in one hand and an ax in the other as she simultaneously sent a bolt through a demon's head and spilled another one's guts on the floor. Riza was to her left, flaming projectiles from her shotgun dropping four or five demons per shot. In front of the women were Adam and Starkiller, Adam using his robotic body and advanced weapons while Star used his sabers and the Force to drop demon after demon. A yowl alerted Marion that Jinx had followed them in and was sharing in the slaughter with her sonic voice.

"Nice of you to join us," Marion said as she extracted her ax from a demon head.

"Well what can I say a snake is a snake and I do like their meat," Jinx replied between yowls.

It was with such banter going back and forth that the five of them chopped, shot, punched, and blasted their way towards the large snake demon. Through the fliers, the spikes, and the dogs, and even the occasional surprise demon of another variant, the five carved their way until they were at the base of the big demon's head.

"Well, well, well," The large demon said in a deep, sleepy, voice as they approached, "You've broken my playthings, Now I will have to get some more and Lucifer is not going to be happy about that unless I bring him your cold dead bodies. However I believe a conflict with you would end poorly if my brother Garvex is anything to base an outcome on, so perhaps you would listen to my proposal?"

"You think we will fall for that," Marion replied, "You'll just summon more demons through your portal to fight us while you slip away."

"Not so," the demon replied, "I am Ravalon demon general of rationality, I specialize in making people convince themselves that they are right, I could simply talk you into giving me your lives. I simply happen to know the complexity of the history of K, who you follow, and have decided that my aligning with him is more to my favor than remaining in Lucifer's service. Already the angles are considering joining him in the coming revolution, and I do not want to be on the receiving end of their aggression."

"The creature is speaking the truth," Jinx said absently, "It really does want to be on K's side in this fight."

"Well what do we think, shall we take him to K," Adam asked?

"normally I'd say no," Riza said, "But seeing as it hasn't moved and the portal is closed, Maybe give him a shot?"

"He did close the portal," Starkiller agreed, "But that doesn't mean he couldn't open it again."

"Quite true," Ravalon said, "And there would be an army waiting for it to open ready to spill out into the world."

"An army huh," Marion said, "And they would listen to you, even if your orders meant doing that which they normally would not?"

"Yes," came the demons reply, "so are you accepting my offer?"

"We can't but K can," Marion responded, "If you would follow us, we will take you to him."

"Very well, but be ready to run," Ravalon said, "When I change forms the magma that is held under me will fill this tunnel. I will meet you in the crater."

Then the demon was surrounded in a blue fire, and true to his words red hot lava started pushing its way up through the giant tunnel that housed the rest of his body. Marion and the others ran back towards the exit, back to the sunlight and Beast who was waiting outside. Jinx led the way back, cutting their time in half from their entrance time. When they got back out however Beast was already talking with another demonic figure, Ravalon had beaten them out.

In this tripodal form, Ravalon had three legs that were jointed like a crabs', a hardened shell that held most of his body inside it that was shaped like an ice-cream cone, and the snake-like head on a long neck that stuck out from the shell. He had no arms, or wings, just the head, neck, shell, and legs. He was a deep brown with lighter tans on his legs and on spots of the shell, his skin was black.

"Ah you've made it back," Beast said, "Very interesting friend you have here and who is that?"

"Yes Jinx is very interesting and that Is Ravalon," Marion replied with a smirk. Two which Beast growled and shook his head.

"No the other way round you infuriating human," Beast chuckled, "Your wit is sharper than my claws."

"So you've worked with demons before then," Jinx commented, "Seems interesting, but I bet they can get pretty dull."

"Oh a talking cat," Ravalon said, "Forgot that bit."

"A clever talking cat," Beast added, "Just what we need another Marion."

"Very funny you two," Marion said, "Beast you've got the most experience with demons, what do you think is he ok?"

"Normally I'd say fifty-fifty," Beast replied, "But considering who we've already got helping us, me included, yeah hes ok."

"We thought as much," Riza said as Adam helped her back into the ACU which powered up upon her return.

"Hmm, the humans control the machines directly from inside," Ravalon stated, "Always figured they would remote control it."

"Hey, Ravalon do you know if there are any other gates on the planet?" Adam asked, "That seems like an obvious question to ask now, should have thought of that earlier."

"Two others actually," Ravalon replied, "One in a barren wasteland and the other deep underground, I assume you want to close those as well?"

"Yes, we do," Starkiller responded, "and from the sound of it we already have people at the other spots."

"Then we might want to hurry up and get to the Wastes then," Ravalon said, "The guardian there is the least likely to accept my decision to change allegiance."

"That's where the Doctor's team is," Marion said, "Riza how fast can you get some transport for us and a few extra guns?"

"Depending on how large the guns, between fifteen minutes to an hour," Riza replied as she started construction on metal and energy resource generators, "So do you want a full escort of Czars or just the light transports with some ground troops?"

"Lets go for quick," Marion said, "We can't tell what trouble they've gotten themselves into."

Character The Doctor

"Now that is impressive," The Doctor exclaimed as he, River, John, North and South exited the Tardis. Before him a vast expanse of desert and rock opened up that was filled with carved trenches and pathways; formerly used by the Locust but now filled with demons.

"As much as I hate to admit it," River said, "We may need to get more creative than just blasting every one of them."

"Well a good earthquake could collapse the trenches onto the demons," North said.

"Good idea," The Doctor commented, "But even better is, assuming that I'm not mistaken, there is a magma flow not to far away from the wall of that really deep trench, the one in the middle of the demons."

"Well that's great," South sighed, "But we are over here and it is in the middle of what a thousand demons?"

"Yeah that's going to be hard to get to," John said, "Any ideas?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked," The Doctor said, "Now we will need..."

Ten minutes later The Doctor was holding out an egg shaped device to the others and, as was his habit, explaining much to fast how it worked. "And then this button here makes the air go wibbly and then poof area of super dense fog, even heat detection is confused by the oppressive humidity created by this little guy."

"Ok that is how we get to the wall now how are we going to break it without being melted by the lava we want to cover the demons in," North asked.

"That," River exclaimed as she walked out of the Tardis with a three foot long, metal contraption that operates as a remote drill, "is where this comes in."

"So we muck up the demons vision, cause some confusion, plant the device, and get out," John said, "Sounds simple, how much time will we have to plant the device and then get out?"

"The mist will last for about five or six minutes in these conditions," The Doctor replied, "And the drill can punch through that wall in two and a half minutes."

"So this is a run and gun," South said as she loaded her SMGs, "Good, lets go."

With that cheery remark they arranged themselves so that the Doctor was in the middle of a square formed by River, North, John and South. They crept up to the edge of the first trench and the Doctor primed the smoke egg and tossed it into the midst of the demons while shouting, "Now!" The egg sent out a series of vibrations that caused the air to clump up into a dense fog, making it hard for the demons to see but also restricting their vision. Even with the impairment the five of them managed to cut down the confused demons that stood between them and the targeted spot on the trench wall that the Doctor wanted to open.

"Ok, get the drill in place," John said as River and the Doctor reached the wall. River set up the tripod that the drill mounted on while the Doctor lined up the tip for the fastest penetration. He locked it onto the stand and shouted for them to get out, causing the whole group to start moving again. Soon however the Doctor realized that they must have made a mistake on their return rout. They had arrived at the wall in a minute and now they had been moving for a minute and twenty seconds, there must have been a turn that they had missed.

"Not to alarm anyone but, we might be lost and have a lava flow chasing us down in one minute," The Doctor declared, "We need to find higher ground."

"We can't even use our motion trackers in this fog," South replied, "How do you expect us to find higher ground?"

"Look on your trackers," Doctor replied, "It won't pick up the movement of the demons, but it can detect the movement of thick patches of fog, like near the walls or the base of a protrusion that we could use to get above the lava flow."

"Ok I think I have something just ahead of us and to the left side," North said, "Can I get a confirmation on that?"

"Confirmed," John stated, "Stay close."

"Thirty seconds," the Doctor said as they reached the spot that North and John had designated. Indeed there was a hill there, a pile of rocks that were leftovers from the Locust excavation. Now as the five climbed up them they could hear the sounds of demons howling as the lava was freed from the pocket it was in and started pouring out into the trenches. Those sounds were soon followed by a rumbling that signaled the beginning of the collapse of the tunnel walls, which was accompanied by an increased racket from the demons that were trapped in the overwhelming fog. The fog had another two or three minutes left but they didn't need to see to know when the lava surrounded the rocky pillar they had taken refuge on, since the heat and crackling, sputtering, sound was enough to make their situation plain. Only once the fog began to dissipate did the true gravity of the situation hit them. They were on the only piece of land sticking up from the lava field for a good four-hundred feet and it was only fifty feet across and thirty feet long.

"Well that might have worked to well," River said, "Now what?"

"We will have to get off soon otherwise the heat will kill us," North said, "You and River probably even faster."

"Can we freeze the lava," John asked.

"No its moving to fast," the Doctor replied, "We must have drilled into a tube that leads right into the core for the lava to be moving this fast. The rocks underneath us are probably starting to melt as well which would cause this patch of ground to sink into the stream."

"Great," South said, "I don't want to die again, not like this anyways."

"How fast is the flow moving," North asked, "faster than fifteen miles an hour?"

"Oh yes," River said, "close to thirty I'd say."

"Good," North exclaimed, "Sis get your shielding ability ready, we are going to put up a shield around the rock."

"What how?" South asked, "These things need AI's to work right."

"Or someone who is very fast at math," North said, "Doctor, how about it?"

"That just might work," the Doctor added, "you can use the power from the three suits and the shields can be cross-fired so the coverage is increased while dropping the power drain, and yes it can work, here let me see the generators."

In just under four minutes, the shield generators were linked together and were connected to the three Spartans' suits. After a final check the Doctor flipped the switch and the humm of the shield became audible before the shield became visible. It was a golden dome that spread out from the generators and encompassed the outcropping. "Ok that should be good, now we just wait for rescue," River said.

"Great this will be fun," South said, "What we just have to stand here?"

"Well, You can sit down if you like," the Doctor said, "after all you might as well enjoy the view." Indeed the flow of lava as it speed past them was quite the sight. The constant changing of temperatures, colors, and the swirling of the currents was quite enthralling to his experienced eyes.

Before long however there was something that stuck out at the Doctor the surface of the lava would quiver every three to four seconds, almost like some really heavy hammer was falling, or large foot falls. Foot falls, there was only one creature that was large enough to make the lava stream quake like that, Beast.

"Ready up," the Doctor said as the horned head of Beast became visible over the horizon, "Our rescue is here!"

"Well that is convenient," River said, "See this is why I married you your lucky like that, and crazy."

"Good thing too," North added, "or else we would have probably cooked."

"Well well, looks like we came along just in time," Riza called out through the loudspeaker on her ACU, "We picked up some new friends for you to meet, but first lets get you off that rock. Good job taking out the demons here, lava very sneaky."

"But noisy," the Doctor said, "Sometimes I really do feel sorry for these poor creatures."

"Those 'poor creatures' would just as soon rip your head off as look at you," River pointed out.

"Well so would most of my enemies," the Doctor replied, "Though I will admit that the demons are much less chatty than even the Daleks. Well what are you all just standing there for get us off this rock."

Character Throon

The tunnels smelled of home to Throon as he and Delta, a human task-force comprised of Fenix, Dom, Baird, Coal and Anya, made their way through the gloomy, old, mostly abandoned, tunnels towards the old palace that used to be the heart of the Locust empire, his people. It was thanks mostly to Delta that his people were on the verge of extinction but he also owed them for saving the last roughly three hundred Locust. They were going because the Seer, Kalathanon, said to go and look for any demonic activity. K had already sent out two other task-forces to scout two other likely places for demons but Throon believed this to be the most likely of the three. Before long he was proven right.

The six of them arrived at a large over hang that looked out upon the massive cavern that housed the palace, once home to the Queen, then flooded, then the Human HQ, and now the primary staging area for the demon advance on his world. Every inch of the massive and complex roadway system that his people created was being used to transport demons of all shapes, sizes, material, and presence across the cavern that stretched almost a hundred miles.

"These vermin should not be allow to inhabit this place," He said.

"Agreed," Fenix replied, "So lets put our heads together and see what we are going to do about it. There are six of us, capable as we are, and tens of thousands of them."

"I suppose letting K send in some help is out of the question," Anya said as she pointed to a large red pool on the floor through which demons were coming in and out of.

"Definitely," Fenix said, "What we need is something that will kill as many of the demons as possible, close the portal and make this site unusable for the demon's portals in the future."

"There are three main supports," Throon said, "They were drastically weakened by the flood you all let in but still standing. We could probably drop the ceiling if we took out the supports at the same time. There is one on the north-west side, east side and south-west side, with tunnels that lead to the back of the supporting columns so we are not crushed in the process."

"Dom, your with me," Fenix said, "Baird, Coal, you take the south column, Anya with the bug, you two take the east column. We are going to hit the north column. Lets bring the roof down on these demons."

"Ok grubby," Anya said, "You know this place better than me so you lead."

Throon took the abuse quietly and nodded as he first pointed out the passages that the other groups should take before leading Anya down the passage that would go directly under the palace to the east column.

"Ours is the farthest away," Throon said, "but the passages that lead to it are the smallest, which should give us an advantage when the demons try to block our progress."

"Why did you want to come with us," Anya asked as she nodded her understanding of his previous statement, "I'm sure you want the demons gone but why go with us?"

"Because the only hope for my kind is to live with yours, not against yours," Throon replied, "Already the town of Mercy is turning against us. It is my hope that if your people see me the Locust leader helping to defeat our common enemy, and if they see you, their heroes, accepting my help, then perhaps they will start to look past the hatred for my kind and we can live in peace."

"I... I don't know what to say," Anya said, "It never occurred to me that your kind could even consider peace with ours. I must admit, I still can't believe that you are living in the same city as us."

"Without Myrra to drive her hatred for humans into us we began to see the error of fighting you," Throon continued, "We should have listened to Adam from the start, we should have asked for help against the Lambant but instead we chose war. We were fools, but no more, our creator, Kalathanon, has changed for the better and so too have we. Remember that when next you carelessly toss around those insults, most of my kind are still just as sore about the war as you all are."

"Well that's something to think about at least," Anya replied, "But later listen."

Throon heard it, the sound of claws clacking off rock, the demons were heading their way. What came out into the tunnel was shaped much like the rock worms that inhabited the planet's underground, but this one, instead of having the short pudgy legs, had corpser-like appendages that ended in clacking, scissor claws. As it turned to face them they were treated to an impressive display of ten yellow eyes, totally unnatural for the normal creatures, and a mouth from which darted three tongues that had spikes protruding from them. It was also much larger than a normal rock worm, big enough to ride actually.

"Don't shoot," Throon said as he walked up to the creature's head and patted it on the snout, "This is Pestilence, my mount and companion, I was hoping to run across him here. Well get on this will make the trip faster."

He could see the hesitation in the human's eyes as she climbed up onto Pestilence, but after plowing through the first wave of demon-dogs without slowing that hesitation started to turn into an appreciation for the tank-like bulwark that a rock worm mount provided. After another two rounds with the demons, including one of the large, fire-breathing, mega-demons, Throon observed that Anya was now much more comfortable hiding behind one of the raised plates of armored scales that Pestilence provided. Popping up from time to time to unload a few shotgun rounds into any demons that got past the constantly lashing tongues and the first two sets of clawed legs.

As for himself, Throon carried a hammer burst AR, a boltox revolver, incendiary grenades and a longshot sniper. In these confined spaces however the revolver was getting the most use due to its large rounds and short barrel. They were soon at the base of their support column and were waiting for the word of the others arrival at the other columns. Baird radioed in first with confirmation that they had reached the south-western column now it was just up to Marcus and Dom. Anya seemed to grow more nervous as the minutes crept by without any communication but then she got a transmission.

"Anya, Baird, Coal, anyone, we are pinned down just south of the northern column if anyone can provide assistance we would much appreciate it."

"There is an over look on the other side of the column," Throon said, "We can use the longshot from there."

"Then I'm using it," Anya said as she tossed him her gnasher for the sniper. He traded the weapon off without complaint. After instructing Pestilence to guard the entrance to the balcony he pulled out his AR to provide close support for Anya while she sniped the demons that were harassing Marcus and Dom.

"Marcus, you two keep your heads down, I'm going to be pulling off some very long shots here," Anya said over the comm channel. Throon set himself up behind a wall near the middle of the overlook while Anya took up a position that was at the edge of the balcony. At first there were no demons near them but after Anya's first shot rang out the demons began moving in. The first thirty were easy since they had no real ranged attacks, but once the Spikes set up on a ridge in the rock-face no more than a hundred yards away the fighting got interesting. Anya would wait for his all clear before setting up for another shot then quickly ducking back down behind the railings as more Spikes and a new fireball throwing demons made of what looked to be molten flesh replaced the previous attackers.

"Anya, there is just one more demon that is really making trouble for us," Fenix said, "See what you can do about it."

Anya obviously saw which demon it was because she set up for the shot while there was still a spike demon on the ridge. Throon simply reacted, he saw Anya come up out of cover and the Spike demon change its focus from him to her. In a burst of speed Throon managed to beat the spike that was aimed for her head and take the hit in the left hip. Anya simultaneously took out the last of the demons that were preventing Fenix and Dom's advance, while Throon pumped five rounds into the Spike's head even as he fell to the ground due to his shattered hip.

He hit the ground with a thud and a hiss, his weapon clattering to the floor. Anya made her way over to him and helped him crawl back into the tunnel where the demons could not shoot at him. Pestilence was waiting for them with a pile of demon corpses behind him.

"Plant the grenade," Throon said as he pulled himself behind his old friend, "Then get behind Pestilence."

"Marcus, Baird, Are we ready?" Anya asked.

"Yeah sure," Baird replied.

"We are ready," Marcus said, "Everyone alright?"

"Throon has a shattered hip," Anya said, "He can't walk."

"Who... oh right the grub," Coal replied, "Sucks to be him."

"What did he do to shatter his hip," Fenix asked, "And can you still get out of there before the roof blocks the exits?"

"He took a spike that would have blown my head off," Anya replied sharply, "And yes we can still get out on time, so can we detonate?"

There was silence then, "Yeah go ahead," from Marcus.

The distinctive sound of a grenade being punched into the rock face rung out then Anya was landing beside Throon behind Pestilence. The sound of an explosion followed shortly after.

"Good," Throon said, "Now help me up onto Pestilence so we can get out before the roof collapses."

"Thanks," Anya said as she helped him up onto his mount, "For saving me. Huh never thought I'd be saying that to a Locust."

"No thank you for sticking up for me even against your friends," Throon replied as he guided Pestilence through a series of tunnels that would lead back to the surface, "Though I suspect that one of them is more than a friend?"

"Marcus Fenix," Anya replied, "I don't know what the customs are in your culture but in ours a married couple usually assume the same last name. My name is Anya Fenix."

"I figured as much," Throon said, "your actions were enough for me to figure it out I just wanted to be sure. The only way for us to have peace between my kind and yours is for our races to understand each other."

A few feet into the tunnel and the ceiling behind them collapsed, proof that the cavern had collapsed. Throon hurt everywhere, his broken hip sending a wave of pain through him with every jar and bump in the tunnel, but he knew it wouldn't last for long. All of the generals got two bonuses, one was a pet the other was a genetic enhancement. His pet was Pestilence and his enhancement was a rapid repair body. So while he knew that even a shattered hip would only hurt for about an hour it still was hard to keep up the pace that they were setting to meet the others back above ground.

"There is the exit," Throon said about a half hour later, "lets see what damage we've done."

The rest of Delta was waiting for them at the door that led up to the surface. Fenix eyed Pestilence but said nothing as he opened the door and they proceeded through it. What they found on the outside however was not what they were expecting. Instead of a giant crater filled with demons corpses there was a massive demon that rose up from the ground with its torso sticking out of the glowing portal that was on the floor of the cavern. It had six pairs of arms and three heads, each one with fangs, four embers for eyes, twin slits for a nose, two drum-like ear stubs and horns that ringed each head. The demon was alight gray-green with splotches of black and red on him that enhanced the lines of its outstanding musculature. Each of its twelve hands had three fingers that were like war-hammers.

Now the demon was bad enough but the army that was still alive and gathering around it was even worse. A combined force of Apocicas, Spikes, Fliers, some demons with whip-like appendages, and skeletal demons that had scissor hands, dagger like teeth, four legs and a tail with edges that looked sharp enough to slice right through metal. Yeah the demon commander was bad but the army would probably be the worse bit.

"Well blarg me," Baird said, "Do we really have to fight all that?"

"If its in our way," Throon said, "Why not?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Hi Honey I'm Home

Character Grishnake

"Ok, your the big dragon dude who started all the magic and development and such," Haggard said to Orthino, "But when your wife died you locked yourself away in her crypt? Seems kinda creepy to me."

"Well she was the only thing that really mattered to me at the time," the old dragon, Orthino, replied, "I started all of this for her, so we could live in a world where the races lived together in harmony. But before I could complete my goal, she was taken from me, killed by a race who's very name I've wiped from time, though Mammon the instigator is still out there."

"As you should have done," Grish said, "I can't imagine what I would do if Lydia was killed."

"Wait your married," Redford asked, "Now that's a new one. A ninety year old orc who is married."

"Well I was only seventy when I left to come here," Grish said, "Lyd was about twenty five then, so shed be forty five now."

"That's kind of a considerable gap in age there," Sweets said, "How did that work out?"

"Look at me," Grish replied, "I'm ninety and in better shape than you four, she is human so is in probably about the same shape that I am in now, maybe a little worse."

"Hey a human and an orc walk into a bar," Preston said.

"Stop right there," Red said, "Last thing I want is for Grish here to rip your head off."

"Now that would be interesting," Orthino remarked, "Is any one else here hungry?"

"Well the butcher's shop is just on the next street," Hags said, "Shall we go get some grub?"

"I'm in," Grish said as they started to adjust their course through the streets of Warfang. Once Orthino had met with Chris and Veronica and then the rest of the dragons he had made time to walk the streets to see how close the city was to his original plans. Grish didn't mind but the constant stopping to either admire how well the plans were followed or complain about what was not followed was getting tiring. He almost wished that demons would show up just so Orthino would have something to do, almost. He did wish Lydia was with him though, twenty years they had been separated, he couldn't even be sure she was still alive except that he knew she always got back up no matter how hard the hit was.

He had once toyed with the idea of a portal spell that would allow them to travel to each other instantly but, since he was not that good with magic, abandoned the endeavor. His reminiscing was put aside though when a large slab of meat, lamb it looked like, was handed to him. His first bit confirmed the source of the meat, juicy, tender, and fire-breath grilled to perfection. He was savoring the first bite and was about to go for a second when the alarm went off.

"Oh come on," Grish grumbled, "Never can get any good timing."

"That's the southern gate," Orthino remarked as he snapped down the last of his meal, "get on we need to get over there."

Grish helped lift Bad Co. onto the elder dragon before hauling himself up. Orthino took off creating twin twisters of fallen leaves at his wing tips. The southern and eastern gates opened out into a large grassy plain, which seemed to be a favorite place for armies to attack from. Chris and Ve were already there as was Malcolm. They all dipped their heads in respect as Orthino landed, but quickly filled them in on the details. Apparently the remaining demon forces had all gathered for an attack and were out on the plains. That normally wouldn't have been a problem except for the large demon with a four-jawed tentacle mouth, four legs and four arms, and the alarming amount of Apocicas that were present in the gathered demons.

"And we are still recovering from the last demon attack," Malcolm finished, "If they get to close they can just walk right in through the holes in the walls."

"I'll deal with the big guy," Orthino said, "You all take out the army."

"Look, we may be good," Grish said, "But those Apocicas are almost indestructible, one of them almost took down the city. If it wasn't for Beast, there would be a lot more of this city destroyed."

"Not to worry," Haggard said, "Even the most stubborn cockroach can't survive being stomped on, we just need a big enough boot. Chris, Ve how bout it want to run some bombing routs for us?"

"Bombing with what," Sweets said, "Rocks?"

"That, could work," Grish said, "Beast killed the last one by biting it in half, so if you can find large stalagmites to drop on them they would get pinned to the ground where we could hack away at them until they are dead."

"There are plenty of stalagmites in my wife's tomb," Orthino said, "She would approve of us using them for a cause such as this."

"Well its settled then," Red said, we don't have time to waste, here come the demons."

Grish marched out the gate with Redford as Chris and Ve took off to go get some pointy rocks, Sweets and Hags were behind them and Preston got back up on Orthino to keep the small stuff off of him while he distracted the big demon.

"Hey Redford," Grish asked, "You don't happen to have Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' on that iPod of yours?"

"Actually I do," Red replied, "I guess it seems appropriate at a time like this doesn't it."

As the song started up, the two sides charged each other. Grish, Red, Hags, Sweets, Orthino, Preston, Ve, Chris and Malcolm, against a Horror, a good two dozen Apocicas and nearly a hundred lesser demons, consisting of the dogs, fliers, spikes, and skeletons. Grish pulled out his crossbow and started firing. Bolt after bolt was accompanied by waves of fire from Hag's Pyro, and bullets from Red and Sweets. With Orthino and Preston in the air keeping the fliers and the big demon busy, the lesser demons were soon finished off. The Apocicas however were moving in their horrific forms floating almost silently on their vortexes of air.

"Oh man, I wish we had some extra help right about now," Sweets said. Then as if to answer his request Chris and Veronica soared over head and two Apocicas were pinned to the ground large rocky spikes jutting out of their armored forms.

"Ok focus on the downed ones," Grish said as he put his crossbow on his back and pulled out his pistols, "and don't let the freezing attacks that they can throw hit you." Then he was off. He ran past the first demon as he headed for the farthest downed Apocica. He got to it but there were three more heading in his direction, as quickly as he could he dodged around to the side of its body and jumped up on it. He put both pistols up to the back of its head and unloaded both clips into it. He was rewarded with a roar that faded into a gurgle then silence. "Right that's one," He said as he looked back to see the progress that Bad Co. was making. They had killed the downed one and were about to finish off a second one that was in the middle of them.

Unfortunately for Grish the same situation that the Apocica found itself in with Bad Co. he was now finding himself in with three Apocicas. He reloaded and aimed at the closest one, but had to dodge backwards to avoid an attack from the Apocica to his left, which he then took aim at. He had to dodge again though due to the Apocica that was behind him trying to freeze him. Grish may have been in good shape, but he was old and he could not keep up this dodging forever, something was going to have to happen and soon. He got three shots off before having to dodge out of the way again, only to be knocked forty feet across the field by the Apocica behind him. His side hurt, but he didn't feel anything broken as he picked himself up to face the demons again. He spared a glance over towards Bad Co. but they were having their own trouble and Chris and Ve were dropping the stalagmites as fist as they could while fighting off the fliers that were harrying them. So far only six of the twenty four Apocicas had been pinned and only three killed.

As brought his attention back to his current problems, he heard in his head a song that he hadn't listened to in a very long time, it was Her song, Lydia's song, 'Race Among the Ruins by Gordon Lightfoot. Lydia loved that song. Grish hefted his ax as he whispered the chorus to himself. "Away you will go sailing in a race among ruins if you plan to face tomorrow do it soon." He was about to charge when a purple-black portal ripped the field in front of him open and two figures stepped out. Grish recognized them both instantly, one was Lydia, the other was Serana, an old friend of theirs.

Lydia was wearing a full plate of dragon bone armor that made her look more like a massive, lumbering bone golem, with only her face visible from underneath the horned helmet. Grish immediately noticed something different about her, her eyes had changed color, what used to be black eyes were now a reddish-orange. Serana was cloaked in a black cape with a hood. Under that was another surprise for Grish, she was wearing a robe of Nocturnal. A garment that could allow one to literally become shadows. I was also very form fitting and lacked for material across most parts of her body. But Serana had always been one to display herself, even if she had no intentions towards an individual, it was simply how she was.

"Lyd, Serana get over here!" Grish yelled, "Look out behind you." But the warning came to late, both women were knocked down by the frozen attacks that the Apocicas threw at them. Grish ran to them only to be surprised when they both got back up and shook the frost out of their long, black hair. "See told you it would work," Serana said, "Hi Grish long time no see."

Lydia kissed him before asking, "What are those," and pointing to the Apocicas.

"Whatever they are, they die," Serana said, "shall we?"

Grish smiled, "Why not," He replied, "Its been far to long since we last got to let loose on something that could actually take us." Then both women's out-lines began to fade, even as Grish let the power inside him loose and felt his bones start to shift and his body structure to change. With a roar he erupted into his werewolf form, a massive ten foot tall thousand pound visage of a wolf that was capable of shredding even the strongest stones or metals. Beside him Lyd and Serana were both in their vampire forms, both about seven feet tall with a swirling, red aura that lifted them another foot off the ground. "Lydia my dear you will have to fill me in on when you became a vampire," Grish said, "But right now, lets just kill these creatures." The now greenish winged form of Lydia flashed him a broad smile before the three of them tore into the first Apocica.

Grishnake was a wall of fur, fangs, claws, and muscle, outright throwing the Apocicas back when they got to close, but not doing any real lasting harm to the creatures. Lydia was to his right sending in blast after blast of red, life-draining death that was starting to take effect on the creatures. To his left was Serana, her summoned gargoyles and zombies piling up on the left most Apocica and slowly overpowering it. Then Grish heard Haggard yelling.

"Run, hes going to blow!" Came the cry. And Grish had just enough time to see Orthino, Chris and Veronica dive out of the sky, aiming right for the big demon. The three dragons each dropped something as they pulled up out of their dives, something that Grish expected to be an explosive.

"Get behind something," Grish called as he grabbed the nearest two Apocicas and slammed them together in front of him and Lyd. Serana was safe enough behind the last Apocica and her minions. Then there was a pressure, no noise, then what felt like a punch through the chest that sent him, Lyd, Serana and the Apocicas flying backwards right into the wall around Warfang.

The next thing he saw was Preston's face as he and Sweets pulled Grish from the rubble of the walls. He was back in his normal form, his body had reverted when he blacked out and his equipment had returned to its place due to an enchantment he had woven into it years ago. Grish got his feet under him and looked around for Lydia and Serana. He saw Lydia standing off to his left talking with Redford, and he saw Serana spread out on a stone slab with Haggard affixing something to her arm.

"Grish," Lydia cried as she caught sight of him, "you seem to be as tough as always."

"Yeah, doesn't mean that won't hurt tomorrow." Grish replied, "Red whats with Serana."

"She got a piece of armor stabbed through her right arm when the Apocica crushed her between the wall and her own minions." Red replied, "It was her idea to take it out right here and Hags is the best we got medic wise."

"Wow that is a sad statement," Grish commented.

"Ahh," Serana yelped, "You couldn't have been a bit more gentle?"

"Nope sorry, ma'am," Hags replied as he tightened the bandage on Serana's arm, "This is about the extent of my experience with wounds, much less wounds to something like you."

"Ok now that you all awake, mind telling me who these two are," Orthino asked as he landed nearby.

"We already did," Lydia snapped, "Grish talk to him he won't listen to us. You know if Jinx were here she would kick your sorry hide for working with dragons."

"Yeah she would try," Grish replied with a smirk. "Right Orthino this is my wife Lydia, Lyd this is Orthino, a very old, very powerful dragon. The other one is Serana, an old friend she has a castle that was situated just a few miles north of my manor so we maintained our friendship over the years."

"Ok I got the names," Orthino said, "I meant what are they."

"Vampires isn't that obvious," Preston said, "pointy teeth, wings, life draining, bat forms, I'm telling you that says Vamp all over it."

"Its true," Grish said, "Though I do wonder what happened to turn you into a vampire Lyd."

"K, and you leaving and the kids growing up that's what," Lydia snapped, "Life had finished with me, but I wasn't going to die alone in the cold, without you. So I had Serana turn me."

"And its a good thing to," Serana said as she walked over to them, "Otherwise that freeze blast would have killed you."

"Vampires," Orthino huffed, "No smell to detect you by, I could smell the wolf on you Grish as soon as you walked into the crypt but Vampires, there haven't been any of those in Avalar in millennia. I'm not to sure how to respond to that."

"How about a place to get out of this sun and some food," Serana said with a hiss, "And some ice for my arm."

"Hey take it easy big guy. They did just help fight off the demons," Haggard pointed out.

"Fine, but I don't want word getting out about you two, Grish I'm sure that everyone in Warfang is used to your smell by now, so you are still free to roam," Orthino replied, "But you two, no smell will be more noticeable than an odd smell, I ask that you stay at the tower until we can sort this out."

"Speaking of which look," Lydia said as she drew her staff, a nifty weapon fashioned with two shotguns that can unlatch from each other with twin ax heads on the end of the barrels, from her back and pointed towards the field with it. On the field stood four demons. Each one formed from pieces of the large demon that was previously there.

"These guys just don't like to die," Grish said, "Are Chris and Ve still able to carry

more bombs or spear things or something?"

"No, they were not as strong as I and were smashed into the wall same as you they are with a healer right now," Orthino said, "We would have taken your friend here to the healers as well but she refused."

"Not like they could heal me any faster than I do already," Serana said, "So we blew it up and made four smaller ones, I wonder how small we have to divide it before it finally dies."

Grish drew, Grond, his crossbow, "I don't know but I hope it isn't many more. Lets finish this."

Orthino took off with a roar, Bad Co. charged out with a yell, Grish, Lyd, and Serana hefted their weapons and charged their spells before walking out onto the field.

"I'll take the two in the center," Lydia said, "Serana if you could keep the lot of them chilled for me it would be nice."

"You know me," Serana said, "Cold as ice."

"I'll distract whichever ones are not being pummeled by you dear," Grish added. Then they charged in. Lyd was true to her word, running right past Bad Co, and straight into the two demons in the middle of the four. Her twin shotgun, ax, staff, was twirling this way and that both deflecting incoming blows and delivering outgoing ones, both by shotgun shells and ax blades. Grish was putting bolt after bolt into the demon on the right, while Orthino and Bad Co. tackled the left most demon. Serana was lobbing spikes of ice through the air two at a time. Keeping the demons cold and slow, which was working out great for Lyd. She was deflecting blows and countering each strike with a slash or shotgun blast of her own. Grish put his bow up and drew some of his throwing knives, he ran towards the creatures while impaling each one with two or three knives each, when he reached Lyd's side he drew out his ax and started chopping.

Grish ducked and pulled Lyd down as a pyro-blast sent the demon on their right flying backwards. Then Preston was charging through them a G11 fully automatic pistol in his left hand and his TAR in his other hand both rattling off shots. Then Red and Sweets added their bullets to the mix, Red on a Barrett .50 and Sweets on a PSG. Three of the demons remained standing when Orthino flew over and unleashed a rain of death the likes of which Grish had never sen before. From his maw came a swath of devastation that even melted the elements around it. The very air was set on fire and burned for a few seconds after the flyover.

Grish Pulled Lydia and Preston back from the melted piles of demon and the noxious fumes left behind in Orthino's wake. Serana was there to take Preston as he finished coughing out the last of the fumes, Lydia had also inhaled some but was breathing again now.

"What was that," Redford asked as he, Sweets and Hags walked over to join them.

"That is a little something I keep reserved for things that really make me mad," Orthino said as he landed, "My apologies for getting you all caught in it. Though had I not controlled it to only hit the demons the results could have been much worse."

"Well thanks," Lyd said, "but next time don't do me any favors."

"Come on lets get you two to the tower," Grish said, "We've a lot of catching up to do."

"Indeed," Serana replied, "I'll start with turning Lydia. She came to the castle one evening..."

Character Anjali

Location: Southeastern China... Abandoned Warehouse District

"I swear it was here somewhere," Domingo said, "Really the warheads were here."

"Very comforting," Jack said from the laptop that Reinhardt was holding, "I knew we shouldn't have come here."

"You are not here," Anjali replied, "You are safe inside your bunker at the capital."

"I mean you all should not be there," Jack said, "The U.S. can not be linked to this operation."

"That's why I'm here remember," Dom said, "And 141 of course."

"Yeah you all get to head out there and Lucas and I get stuck guarding the VIP," Katarina said through the computer, "I doubt anyone is entirely happy with the arrangement so lets just get what info we can and get going already."

Anjali nodded as she continued her scan of the warehouse. Domingo had informed them that a shipment of nuclear warheads that were being sent from Russia to Cuba was hijacked by military extremist that were operating out of China and now She, Reinhardt, Dom, Price, Soap, and Ghost were inside the Chinese boarder, snooping around in warehouses all while the Chinese, American and Russian governments were unawares. Well except for Jack he was the one who inserted them into China to hunt down the weapons.

"Got something," Ghost said, "Picked up a reading on the Geiger-counter, radio active material and lots of it, supposedly right here."

"Let me look," Anjali said. Since she was an archon the radiation would not affect her like it would the more mortal individuals in her group. Ghost pointed to the corner of the warehouse that he was working in and shrugged. Anjali walked over there and immediately ran into something. There was a scraping sound as the object moved across the floor and then a clang as it hit another object. Anjali managed to keep from tripping but now her shin hurt something awful. "Well it sounds like we found it," She said, "And feels like it too, we just cant see it."

"Cloaked nuclear weapons," Soap said, "Oh that's just blarging fantastic!"

"Well feel around over there," Rehindheart said, "There must be an on/off switch or button on it somewhere."

Anjali reached out and felt the cold metal of a container, she found the edge then ran along it until she felt the lip widen out and she found the controls. "Got it," She said as she pressed the button. The box became visible but it was not what they were expecting.

"Well that's not good," Price said, "Might we consider using the Doctor's favorite plan. Run!"

They ran. The box was not just the nuclear material it was a bomb rigged to blow, and it had ten minutes left on the timer.

"Whoever took the material knew we would be going after it," Domingo yelled as they ran back to the cars, "I'm going to find them and... and... where are the cars?"

"It appears they have been stolen," Rehindheart replied, "We have seven minutes left, perhaps we can defuse the bomb?"

"No way," Price said, "It will take us three minutes to get back there and the detonator on that thing would take hours to defuse. Keep running, we will thing of something."

"Hey Jack you all still with us," Soap asked as he took the blue-tooth from Rehindheart, "Cause we need a plan to get out of here like pronto."

"We are pulling up every schematic of the area we can find," Lucas replied, "I'm not seeing anything."

"Here," Jack piped in, "There is an old sewer that runs underneath the district but the closest opening is... two blocks away."

"There's not enough time," Anjali said, "Four minutes. Give me that." She snatched the blue-tooth from Soap and his heads up display glasses as she ran back the way they had come, back towards the bomb. "Ok Lucas get me everything you have on the schematics for these bombs, I'm not going to defuse the primer, I'm going to empty the powder."

"That, that might work," Katarina said, "You'll be exposed to a lot for radiation though."

"Fine just get me the diagrams," Anjali said as she ran through the door back into the warehouse, "Now how to open you in two minutes."

"You'll need a cutting torch," Jack said, "These models are wielded shut."

"No problem," Anjali replied, "Watch me work." She placed the glasses and Blue-tooth down on a crate next to her and morphed into her archon form. She used her fire hands to melt away the seal on the container and grabbed the uranium core out of the box. She could feel the radiation coming off of the unstable metal then she heard a click. The timer had gone off. Two little flames jutted out from the corners of her mouth as she breathed a sigh of relief and showed the core to the camera on the glasses. "Got it," She said. And a thumbs up from Lucas proved to her that he had heard.

"Anjali," Called Rehindheart, "I assume you got it since we are not dead."

"Yeah, I got it," She replied, "What am I going to do with this core though, you all can't come near it and I dare not put it back in the bomb casing." Then a distant rumble made her forget all about the core as she dropped it to the ground, reverted back to her human form, grabbed the glasses and ear piece and raced out side. She was greeted by the sight of a massive mushroom cloud hovering to the north. The rest of her friends were behind the side of the warehouse covering their eyes but hers were easily strong enough to watch as another rumble and resulting explosion went off creating another cloud. North, East, as she looked West another rumble and cloud greeted her senses.

"We are cut off," She said, "They have nuked all of our escape routes."

"Air extraction is not an option," Jack added, "That radiation will down our birds before they can get to you, but if you can get to and follow that sewer out to a southern beach then I can have the U.S.S. Washington send out a boat to pick you up."

"Sounds good," Anjali replied, "Come on lets head for the sewers we need to get to the beach and away from the radiation."

The others nodded as they headed back to the parking lot. It was raining, making her's and the others' leather outfits slick but quite as they moved through the shifting shadows that were created from the massive explosions. The sewer entrance was in the middle of an intersection, a prefect place for snipers to get a good shot at them. She figured if whoever had taken the uranium had the foresight to block off their escapes then they probably knew about this one as well.

"Price, Soap, see anything?" She asked.

"Nothing the radiation is interfering with the thermal," Soap said.

"That's why I use good old fashioned optics on mine," Price replied, "there are four... five snipers in the buildings around the street. With Soap out due to tech that's not good odds."

"What if there was a distraction," Rehindheart asked, "Then what could you do?"

"Well if you gave me five seconds," Price replied, "I could get all five."

"Anjali, Take this," Rehindheart said as he removed his large belt from his pants, "It generates a field that will deflect bullets and dampen their impact. That combined with your archon form should by Price the time he needs."

"Oh I just saved you all from a nuke and now I have to jump in front of bullets for you," Anjali stated, "It must be my day."

"That's what you get for leaving me behind and being the most spectacular one in the group," Katarina said, "You get to be the eye candy."

Anjali took out the ear piece and tossed it to Price, as she took the belt from Rehindheart and gave the glasses back to Soap.

"Just don't let them shoot at me for to long," She said before running out into the abandoned street. The ring of gunshots was dampened by silencers, the shots only making a thwump sound instead of a bang or boom. Price's first two shots quickly got the attention of the remaining three snipers though and Anjali activated her fire form to get their attention back. Two more of Price's shots rang out to two more thwumps. Then the last two shots were exchanged and there was silence. that's when the pain hit her. Anjali crumpled to the ground as she reverted back into her human form. Her left side was bleeding from a shot that had punched through just under her breast and slightly to the left or her sternum. A bit higher and the shot would have gone through her heart.

"Must have been that last shot," Ghost said as he pulled out a medical kit, "Price if you weren't so quick she might be dead."

"Not here," Rehindheart said, "We must get into the tunnel before more troops arrive."

"And if we don't stop the bleeding soon," Soap replied, "She could still die!"

Anjali was fighting to stay conscious and managed to get out, "Just get in the tunnels," Before she had to go back to fighting off the blackness. She could feel them lifting her and heard the clang as the sewer cap was removed and then replaced after they had gotten down. She also felt it when they removed her shirt, cleaned out the wound, and then put bandages over the holes. She was lucky the bullet went right through but oh how it hurt, she wanted to sleep so bad but knew that to go to sleep now was to die. Then she felt a hand put more pressure on her bandages, some one was carrying her and holding the bandages on. In a normal situation she would feel awkward, being carried around shirtless by a man but right now she didn't care.

"The beach," She managed to say, "Boat."

"Yes we know," The raspy voice of Ghost replied, "Jack in still on the line as are Lucas and Katarina. We are in the tunnel now, making our way to the rendezvous point."

Ghost's step by step narration of what they were doing was the only thing that kept her in touch with life through out the journey. It was he, she decided who was carrying her. Strange he had always seemed the most normal of 141, Soap had his Demon-Hunter abilities, Price was the king of stalking and Ghost simply seemed to be normal. This however was not a feat that a normal man could do, carry both their weight, with added combat gear, while providing a play by play of what they were doing, no this was extraordinary, something that even the brawny Lucas couldn't accomplish.

"We're here," Ghost said, "Now we just wait."

"Hold up. Something isn't right," Price said, "listen."

Even in her current state Anjali could still hear and so she listened, listened and heard nothing. That was bad, hearing nothing meant that something nasty was coming it always did. She felt Ghost set her down, back propped up against what she thought was a rock. Anjali heard shouting then gunshots, she forced her eyes to focus as she drew the pistol that was at her side. There were a dozen armed men on either side of the beach. Ghost, Domingo and Rehindheart were taking on the ones that were closest to her while Soap and Price were engaging the ones to the west. She then spotted another man up on a rocky overhang, and he was aiming at Ghost. Without thought she cocked, aimed and fired the pistol, dropping the rouge attacker, then the world went black.

"Come on get her into the boat," She heard Price yelling, "Rehindheart, Ghost come on!"

The rattle of gunshots was accompanied with the explosions of rockets or grenades as Anjali fought to crawl out of the blackness. She felt herself being lifted and carried, Ghost again she assumed, then felt the hard cold metal of a bench as she was laid back down.

"Go," Rehindheart said, "We're clear. Go!"

She heard the unmistakable purr of engines firing up and then felt movement again, a rocking dipping motion that was common on boats. Anjali heard someone sit down next to her with a clink, and she picked up on the tramping of boots.

"Hey there, you still with us," Ghost asked.

She opened her eyes to look at him, the movement was easier while she was laying down, "Yeah still here. Just do me a favor and don't let any other medics do anything to me, they wouldn't know what to do with an archon." She saw his eyes, the only part of his face that was visible, flick down. At first she thought he was looking at her, but soon realized that he was checking her bandages.

"This is a sloppy job, but it worked," Ghost said, "Now that we are on the ship let me fix you up right." He set about removing her bandages, then replacing the simple wrapping with a padded cloth bandage that kept pressure on both openings created by the wound. Then he sat her up right, which caused her to grind her teeth and shut her eyes again, strapped the bandage across her back and diagonally across her right shoulder, then put her shirt back on, before laying her back down. "Now that should keep you stable until we get back."

"Why are you doing all this," Anjali asked as she gave him a smile, "Rehindheart would know more about my biology than you would."

"Oh I don't know about that," Ghost said as he pulled of his mask to reveal a face that would be considered grotesque to most with crags and ridges where his flesh burned away in the fire that almost killed him, but Anjali saw the caress of an old friend, fire was after all a part of her. "You see, I may not know about archons but I do know about fire. You are fire, its in your body, in your blood, If I had not courted fire before I would be dead now."

He stared to put his mask back on but Anjali stopped him, "I don't guess you might be willing to court fire again then?" She asked as she reached up and stroked the crags and ridges of his face.

"Huh, Twenty years and your asking me this now," Ghost remarked as a grin twisted his scarred face, "well I certainly worked hard enough to get you out of China so I'll give it another shot, maybe this time fire won't burn me so bad."

Anjali let her hand rest across her chest as she laid back and drifted off to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Friends, Serrans, and Creepy Demons...

Character Cortana

Bzzzt, Bzzzt, click. "Riza whats going on," Cortana asked as she opened the comm-link between her and Riza's ACUs.

"Oh just a party with our old demon friends and some new horrors," Riza replied. Cortana also heard the sounds of gun fire and the twang of the Spikes firing their darts. "Since you weren't invited I figured you should know about it, oh and its an open ended invitation so bring everyone you can, and quickly."

"We are on our way you just sit tight and hold down the fort," Cortana replied. Then she opened a comm-link with Griffen. "Did you get that big guy?"

"You bet I did," Griffen, the secret dragon and leader of the UEF replied, "Me and Ivan are all ready to go, you got anyone your bringing?"

"Arbiter and Johnson if they want to," Cortana said, "K and the others are cleaning up the demons in the surrounding areas but we can be at Riza's position in thirty minutes."

"Good we are on our way now and will be there in ten," Ivan said.

"Hey Cortana what was all that about," Johnson asked from the ground about fifty feet below her.

"Sounds like Riza and her group ran into trouble," Cortana replied, "Griffen and Ivan are on their way there now and we are heading there as well so get on, both of you."

Johnson and Arbiter just shrugged at each other as they climbed up onto her ACU. When they were situated she activated the jets that allowed her to fly and they took off heading towards Riza's communication point of origin. The three had been following the broken fuel lines that ran from Mercy to the various towns around it to see how long it would take to repair the infrastructure. Cortana already knew it would take years so she saw no reason to not go help her friends. She enjoyed flying, it was after all what she was born to do. Though she was originally supposed to fly star ships not experimental command units. Still the versatility that the suit offered had simply grown on her over the years. With six thrusters, two on the back, two in the hands and two in the feet, she had complete control of the ACU when flying, allowing her to preform maneuvers like a three-sixty or flips that the other ACUs simply could not do.

Bang bang, She opened the door into the head, or control center of the ACU. Johnson and Arbiter stepped through from outside. Arbiter took a seat while Johnson walked over to her. "Did Riza say what we are going to be in when we get there?"

"Yeah demons, ole and new ones," Cortana replied, "Why you worried?"

"Well one of us has to be," Johnson said, "You know fifteen years ago, before you and Chief got married he would be the one rushing into danger and you would be the one worrying about him."

"And yet even with your reverse roles," Arbiter said, "They still work marvelously together. Never did figure out the marriage bit though, but I guess there really isn't any other woman for you Chief."

"That's still confounding you isn't it," Cortana laughed, "How hard is it to understand that we both realized that even though John and I can't have physical relations or children, due to me being made out of metal, or relationship is simply that much stronger because of it... and me living inside his head for a few years.

"You do realize that... oh right," Johnson replied, "Now your just messing with him."

"Earthlings," Arbiter huffed, "I just hope that there are some demons left to taste my blades."

"I'm sure there will be old friend," Johnson said, "Cortana how much longer?"

"We got a good ten minutes left but I think I can already see Riza's base," Cortana replied as she scanned the area for motion, "Oh... oh that's not good. There must be a small war going on down there. I'm picking up Beast's, Delta's, The Doctor and River's, Marion's, Adam's, North's, South's, Starkiller's, Riza's, Ivan's, Griffen's and John's profile sigs, and a bunch of demonic ones plus several units that belong to Riza, Ivan and Griffen. There also seems to be several large demons that are the commanders and then the general of course, but one of them seems to be working with our guys."

"Well that's a nice change for once," Arbiter said, "A friend on the inside."

"Cortana," It was John on the radio, "You are coming in hot so prepare to dodge your way through."

"Thanks for the heads up Chief," Cortana replied, "Everyone hold onto something."

As she cleared a ridge that was blocking their view of the plain beyond a volley of projectiles came flying up at them. Cortana dove under the missiles and skimmed across the ground, grinding demons between her ACU and the dry, cracked landscape of the plain. She then straightened up, landed, and began running towards Beast who was in a fight with a demon lord that was rising up out of the ground.

"Wow, that's a lot of arms," Johnson commented as he stepped back from the window after viewing the twelve armed demon, "Hope his friends are not going to be as bulked as that guy."

Cortana fired off three shots before slamming into the demon, giving Beast a break from the constant beating from the arms. Then she pulse jetted backwards out of the demon's reach only to have to dodge a beam of fire that shot out of the creature's eyes. She responded with a few more shots before getting back in close to avoid the eye-beams. With the experimental ACU, her Sentinel abilities, and super fast reaction times, Cortana was able to deflect and redirect every blow that the demon tried to land on her. Beast meanwhile was now able to find openings to counterattack the demon. Arbiter and Johnson were hanging on like their lives depended on it as Cortana spun, flipped and weaved through the eight arms that were lashing out at her.

As she and Beast put out punishment on the demon, she noticed an experimental level aircraft come online. It was a soul ripper, one of Ivan's super heavy gunships. So he was focusing on air power, smart. She sidestepped a massive swing of all twelve arms and fired off five pulses of the burning nano-cloud that so easily ate through many other demons. Against this creature however the cloud dissipated leaving only surface damage that was already healing.

"What the..." Cortana muttered, "Riza is there something you forgot to mention?"

"Uhhh yeah, I had hopped that your weapons would have a better effect on the demons than ours did but apparently its almost indestructible." Riza replied sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

"Great," Cortana snapped as she knocked away another strike from the demon and stomped some lesser ones that tried to attack her, "Well do we know what is causing it to be this powerful?"

"Yeah," It was Fenix that responded, "He is still half way in the portal that he is trying to come out of."

"Well then let him get through so we can kill him," Cortana said.

"Not going to happen. If that thing get through it will be mobile," Fenix replied, "And I doubt that even all of us here can kill it before it reaches Mercy if that happens."

"We are not letting it out but we are going to force it back in," John said, "Cortana I need you and Beast to keep it distracted while The Doctor, River, North, South and I head into the crater and disrupt the portal. I know you can you do this."

Cortana fell back into the rhythm of the fight for a moment. If it had been any of the others asking her to continue this ridiculous fight she would have argued, but not with John asking her. "Ok go but make it fast," She said, "I may be good but I'm not perfect eventually this guy will get a good hit in then... I don't know how this suit will hold up."

"Hey girl, whats happening," It was Marion.

"Marion good to hear you," Cortana said, "Not much just trying not to get crushed by a giant demon. You?"

"Oh I'm about to join in the fun with a new friend," Marion replied, "You may want to move to the left, Ravalon really has it out for this guy."

Cortana was going to ask who but then the large demon commander that had seemed to be working with them when she was approaching smashed into the demon that was fighting her and Beast.

"How interesting. A demon civil war," Arbiter remarked as he pulled himself up from the floor after having been knocked there by Cortana's spin. The demon, Ravalon, was a strange sight with three legs a cone-shaped shell and a snake-like head that extended from the opening he actually made Cortana laugh when she saw him.

"Hey a weirder looking bloke than me," Johnson said, "That's a nice change."

For something that looked so clumsy, Ravalon was actually proving to be very agile. His unnatural speed enabling him to not only dodge the larger demon's attacks but to strike back as well. Now Cortana, Beast and Ravalon were able to attack the demon general with everything they had. With the twelve arms divided among the three of them and with Delta, and Marion's group assisting Griffen, Ivan, and Riza's forces. The area was being wiped clean of demons as fast as they could portal in.

Cortana blocked a punch from the right then kicked away a left hook before turning the same leg back on the demon and kicking him in the chest. Then more blocking, some shooting and more punching. Beast was trading blows with the big guy like the hits that the demon inflicted on him were nothing more than flies trying to bite him. While Ravalon was dodging then striking then dodging with his snake-like speed and precision. The demon, while not hurt necessarily, was definitely getting worn down. Even with its twelve arms and three faces, it was still one mind that was having to react to the three of them assailing it and that mind was showing signs of tiring. A missed opportunity to strike here a failed block there, small things but weaknesses nonetheless. Weaknesses that Cortana didn't face.

As she was presented with more openings Cortana was merciless in striking out whenever and wherever she could. Even under the increasing damage that the three were dealing the general still appeared almost untouched by their battering, Cortana hopped that Chief would get the portal closed soon. Then she saw Beast get knocked backwards by a vicious uppercut, that was followed by a straight punch. Then Ravalon was picked up and thrown into Beast as he got up to rejoin the fight, leaving both kneeling on the ground as they fought off demons that had diverted from Griffen's ground units. Cortana was now the only one to take on the general.

She responded with a little surprise that she had been saving, the tactical missile packs that were on her back. With the push of a button twelve missile fire out of the silos and headed for the general. Twelve missiles, twelve hands, enough to keep the demon occupied while Cortana punched away at its face while she was under rocket power. A right hook, followed by a backhand and a left hook, with subsequent backhand. Round kick, hook kick, side kick, then a double kick to get her out of the way as the missiles got the better of the battered giant and exploded against its chest. The general actually slumped after that attack.

"Enough!" the demon yelled, "Stand down! You win, if K's friends are this powerful, how can we hope to stand against the Leviathan himself? Ravalon you were right, this isn't our best chance of getting out of Hell, its our only chance."

"Told you Lurbruk," Ravalon said, "But you never were one to listen to reason."

"So wait, There are two of you on our side now," Beast asked, "Well fine with me, that's a nasty uppercut you got there."

"Chief," Cortana radioed, "Don't disrupt the portal, the big guy is giving up, he's coming over to our side."

"Wait what?" Came the reply, "Well if Ravalon convinced it then ok, I guess we will head back up there."

"Ok see you soon," Cortana replied, "Well I'm glade that's over... hold on, Ravalon where is Marion?"

"Must have gotten flung off when I got tossed," Ravalon replied, "she was on my shell."

"I'm here," Marion called out, "Fortunately for you, Jinx here has a very powerful voice. Saved us both from being smashed into the ground. Did some sort of ghost trance thing and we went through Beast and the ground and came right back up just fine."

"Your welcome," Jinx the white cat that Marion was holding replied through Marion's head set.

"Demons changing to our side and talking cats," Johnson said, "And this is just a normal day for us."

"Well as long as the situation is under control I'm happy," Cortana replied, "Lets get the big guy out of the portal. Lurbruk you look like you will be a good hand at rebuilding cities."

"I'll do what I can," The large demon said as he lifted the rest of himself through the portal. The twelve armed torso sat atop a twelve legged based that was shaped like a saucer from which sprouted the bird-like legs. The legs resemble a storks but were much thicker and had strange rocky pads on the toes instead of claws. In total Lurbruk was a hundred and twenty-five feet tall, and must have weighed over ten tons.

"Well I doubt we can just take him back to Mercy," Griffen said as he walked his ACU over to them, "The city is structurally unsound as it is."

"Then let me start rebuilding a city that is out away from the town," the general said, "That way I can show the inhabitants that I mean to help them, Ravalon can be my dignitary and ambassador."

"Sounds reasonable," Cortana replied, "and with your snake-like build, Ravalon, you could go under the city and help strengthen the supports."

"Logical," Ravalon said, "Always liked the logical ones."

"Ok whats going on here," Fenix asked as Delta came over, "Looks like you found some new buddies, sure they ain't going to bite us when we aren't looking?"

"I would hope not," K's voice boomed from above them. "Ravalon, Lurbruk, its been some time, but I haven't forgotten what you two do best, deceive. You bring any harm to anyone that is under my banner and I will rend your very souls from your flesh. Are we clear?"

"Only if you say that to us in person," Lurbruk replied, "Come here so I can kill you!"

"Oh I wouldn't have done that," Cortana said as she maneuvered her ACU back away from the demon.

K plummeted from the sky in a fiery ball, his landing caused the earth under him to ripple out creating a small crater. He was in human form, clad in a black leather set of armor that revealed only the flaming pits of his eyes. He approached Lurbruk and somehow managed to look down at the demon from under his hood. "Well here I am go ahead and try," K snarled.

The general raised his arms and slammed all twelve fists into K. Cortana was already running to help however she could, Delta was charging their weapons, Marion drew her bow, Ivan, Griffen and Riza were jetting in, Beast was charging towards Lurbruk, John and his crew had just come up from the crater and were heading towards the general and even Ravalon gathering energy for an attack.

"Stand down!" K's voice boomed again as the impossibly large Lurbruk was lifted off the ground by his hands. K was lifting the demon with one hand, he had completely ignored the crushing forces that must have been delivered with the demon's smash. "Ok big guy how about now, will you listen?"

"So it is you," Lurbruk stammered, "I... yes your friends are my friends."

"Good," K replied as he let go and deposited the giant general on the ground, "Now everyone who wants to stay here assist the big guy in helping repair the cities, He is good for lifting but he is not very precise. Fenix, Delta, We will return for you, we will help rebuild this planet but now I can not delay Starkiller's galaxy is in danger and DC needs to be there."

"Then stop your yapping and get out there," Anya said, "We wish we could go with you but we are needed here."

"I know, but you've got two very powerful helpers now the reconstruction should go quickly," K said as he morphed into his dragon form and took off.

"Well sounds like we need to get back to the ship," Cortana said, "Fenix, Dom, Baird, Coal, Anya,... I guess I'll see you all later."

"Same here baby," Coal replied, "Same here."

"Before we go," Griffen added, "The bases that we built, while very rudimentary, are sufficient enough to produce quite the array of units, mostly construction but a few mechs as well, I'll leave them in your care."

"Thanks," Dom replied.

With that Cortana lifted John up so he could get in, The others got in the Tardis and departed, while Beast and the other commanders started walking back.

"Hey there," Cortana called as John entered the command console, "How's today been?"

"Could be better," John replied, "Delta has some good souls."

"Good souls that I am not going to leave here with those demons," Johnson said, "Chief, Cortana, you two look after the others while I'm gone. Besides I deserve a holiday. Arbiter, Ah never mind you just keep doing what you do best." With that Johnson jumped out of the ACU and joined up with Delta.

"Well I didn't see that coming," Arbiter commented, "I seems that the core is slowly breaking up."

"So it seems," Cortana agreed as she activated the auto-pilot and headed for Doug's ship. John came over and place an arm across her shoulders as Arbiter resumed his fiddling with his armor's camouflage circuitry. "Chief we aren't going to leave like the others are we?"

"No," John replied as they exited the atmosphere to head for their next destination.

Character Johnson

"Hey Delta wait up," Johnson yelled as he landed behind them.

"Johnson, your staying?" Fenix asked.

"Sure am," Johnson replied, "I had my time with Chief and them, but when Doug brought me back I knew I belonged with you guys."

"And we are glad to have you," Fenix said, "Now come on we got some factories to start up, demons to direct and a town to report back to."

"Demons, and generals at that, can we trust them?" Johnson asked.

"I don't know but K seems to," Fenix replied.

"And they definitely respect power," Anya added then with a wink, "Which is not inconsiderable in our case."

"Yeah paladin remember," Coal said, "Marcus if there is anyone on this plant that can keep these demons in line its you, haven't seen you use those shiny abilities in a while though."

"I save that for special occasions," Fenix said, "Now lets go see if the big guys are willing to help out like they said they would."

"You know we can hear you," Ravalon commented, "Just saying."

"Well then what are you doing standing around here," Johnson barked, "Ravalon you know where Char is show Lurbruk so he can start clearing the area for rebuilding."

"Then head over to Mercy and help strengthen the bedrock of the town," Fenix added, "We will get on the comm and tell Hoffman you are coming. After we get these factories working we will send some construction bots your way."

"Right," The demons replied as they headed off to the east towards Char.

"Well, That went better than expected," Anya said, "So who here knows how to operate a huge industrial and economic revival?"

"Why do you think I stayed behind," Johnson said, "Other than I like you guys better than most of the rest of DC?"

"I guess having access to Doug's mind would give you a heads up on large scale operations," Baird said, "where do we start?"

"Food," Johnson replied, "Food and shelter, then technology and defenses. If the demons tried to invade here once already they will try again."

"I hope not," Coal stated, "There is hardly anyone left on the planet to fight back if they tried to... wait you mean the robot stuff that the Commanders left us don't you?"

"Guys cut the chatter," Fenix said as he patched a call through to Hoffman, "Hoffman this is Fenix, we are sending a big crabby, snake-like demon your way. His name is Ravalon, he is going to check the under-structure of the town and strengthen any weak spots, we also sent another demon to Char to see about salvage and rebuilding. Over... Yes they are on our side, yes K and DC are leaving, no we are staying, we have some factories to bring online first but then we will be back, Yeah Throon is with us and Johnson. No he is the zombie looking one. I'll call you when we are done!"

"Tough sell?" Johnson asked.

"No," was Fenix's curt reply as he led the way to the now inactive bases that Cortana, Ivan, Riza and Griffen left for them, "Though Hoffman is pretty mad about not having a choice in the matter."

As they entered one of the factories the cool, air conditioned interior was a nice break from the hot arid plain outside. Johnson walked over to the controls and couldn't do anything with them.

"Blarg it," Johnson said, "Bio-locked, I can't use them."

"Let me try," Throon said. The locust activated the holographic interface. "What should I tell it to build?"

"First run a check to see if we can control the other factories from here," Johnson said, "Then get some construction units going, have the first three or four head over to Lurbruk in Char then send a few to Mercy. Fenix, Can you guys get to the air platform, make a transport, and return to Mercy I can operate this stuff just fine with Throon's help."

"Shotgun," Coal called, "We'll be there before you know it."

"And we will radio back how many construction units we will need and what level," Baird added. "Man I always wanted to play with this stuff."

"Come on guys lets go," Fenix said, "Johnson just call if anything comes up."

"Will do," Johnson replied as Delta headed out the door which closed itself after them.

"Got it," Throon exclaimed, "Access to the controls for all the factories and connected units."

"Excellent, lets see what we've got," Johnson said as he leaned over to look at the console, "Hmm, mostly light scouts and tanks, a few aircraft, two construction bots. Ok I can work with that. Ah only six tons of metal coming in and a hundred gigawatts of energy, send the construction units we have out to find more metal and build more energy generators."

"On it, ah it seems that Delta has started producing a transport, that's using most of our resources," Throon replied, "Once they are done I will order the construction of more builders."

Character Ravalon

Ravalon stood just out of sight from the town of Mercy, he was debating over which form he should first appear to the inhabitants in. He was favoring the purely snake form, as he hoped that it would be more familiar to the townspeople only larger than any snake they were used to. With a thought he vanished the shell and tripod legs as he resumed his original form. "Right lets try not to get shot at," he thought to himself as he slithered over the hill. The town had obviously seen better days, the wall around it was crumbling, the buildings had little to no paint left on them and a few had collapsed, the roads were patchy and broken there were downed power lines scatter around the perimeter and above all the other structures was a barely working satellite antenna. Even so a squad of armed men came out to meet him as he drew near the iron gate.

"Halt," a short man clad in blue metal armor said nervously, "We need a name before we can let you in."

"Ravalon," Ravalon replied, "I'm supposed to help with the undercity structures and supports."

"Ok, your cleared Hoffman is waiting for you follow us," The same man said with a relieved sigh.

Ravalon followed the team through the streets where he got looks of horror, wonder, hate, and most of all fear, from the people he passed. The town was just as run down on the inside as it appeared from the outside. There was, however, one building that stood out from the rest. A large church that seemed almost untouched except for a broken window or two. It also seemed to be where they were headed. As he wound his way through the streets a transport shuttle from the robots' bases flew over head and landed in the back of the town, probably Delta.

"That should be your heroes," Ravalon said, causing the guards to jump at his long reverberating voice.

"Hoffman will see you now," the lead guard said as they stopped at the front of the church, "He is inside."

"Meeting a demon in a church," Ravalon stated, "Seems... ironic."

The door opened and Marcus Fenix looked out from it. "What can't come in? Well to bad get in here."

"Now that's not terribly civil," Ravalon replied as he slid through the double doors which closed behind him. "So you got the bases working then?"

"Well Throon and Johnson did anyways," Dom replied Fenix is checking back with them now."

"Johnson you there? We are back at Mercy..." Fenix reported over the radio.

"Fifty-thousand watts of power and its pushing overload, the beast is ready to devour all the metal they can hold... bzzz, click. Sorry about that," Johnson replied, "I was just getting Throon acquainted with Sammy Hagar."

"Hey why did you shut it off... oh phone right," Throon's voice came through from the background.

"Anyway good to hear you made it back," Johnson continued, "I guess Ravalon is there."

"Aye he is," Fenix said, "Just send us some construction units when you get a chance."

"Will do," Came the reply as 'Heavy Metal' started back up in the background again.

"Well at least they are having a good time," Hoffman commented, "You however will not be having as much fun. Ravalon I don't know why you would want to help us, and this is not to say that I trust you, but the seismic activity in this area has made the town unstable. You may be the only one who can get down under the foundations and sure up the ground underneath us."

"Sounds reasonable," Ravalon replied, "after all I can slide through openings that are much smaller than my actual size. I can not, however, actually do the construction of the supports, you will need either man power or the construction units to do that part. I will mark the locations for you though so the crews won't have to go looking for them, where is the closest entrance to the undercity?"

"In the back, an old elevator shaft will take you straight to the bedrock you can work your way around from there," Baird said, "Just try not to collapse the town on us."

"Don't worry I won't," Ravalon replied as he slid over to the elevator and bit the cable in half dropping the car to the bottom of the shaft before beginning the crawl down the shaft. The elevator car hit bottom and a plume of dust rose up from the gray, lightless, abyss that he pushed himself towards. "Yeah this is much better than being stripped of flesh by K again," Ravalon thought as he pushed his way past the broken car and into the undercity. "Well now lets get started."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Round We Go Again

Character Soap

"Carry on my wayward son... there'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!" Price came in with the drums while Ghost picked up the guitar strings and busted out some rifts and Soap moved into the fist stanza. "Once I rose above the noise and confusion, just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion. I was soaring ever higher, but I flew to high... tho my eyes could see I still was a blind man, tho my mind could think I still was a mad man. I hear the voices when I'm dreaming. I can hear them say! Carry on my wayward son... there'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more! Masquerading as a man with a reason. My charade is the event of the season and if I claim to be a wise man, well it surely means that I don't know. On a stormy sea of moving emotion, tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean. I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say. Carry on my wayward son... there'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!"

Ghost picked up the pace and set into a solo on his electric as the flame cannons on either side of the stage spewed two massive balls of fire into the night sky. The crowd was roaring with enthusiasm, but Soap was looking for four people in particular. The Legionnaires, Reinhardt, Katarina, Lucas, and Anjali, his friends and co-operatives in this undercover deep plant mission as unlikely as it seemed.

"Carry on, you will always remember. Carry on, nothing equals the splendor. The center lights around your vanity but surely heaven waits for you. Carry on my wayward son... there'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest don't you cry... don't you cry no more!" Soap finished up the song that was done by Kansas many years ago with a roar and fist pump. The crowd went wild as Ghost and Price imitated the movement once they finished up with the last chords of the music and the three left the stage.

"Well done," Reinhardt said as 141 came back stage.

"Thanks," Price said, "I haven't had a chance to play the drums like that in years."

"As fun as it may be remember we are still doing this so that our cover stories check out with the Chinese officials," Lucas added.

"I still think I should have a part on stage," Katarina jabbed.

"You two," Anjali said as she sat up in her chair, the bullet wound she had received last month was mostly healed now but the wound was still sore and she restrained her activity to mostly mental exercise.

"How are you doing," Ghost asked, "Haven't seen you since this morning."

"Why don't you two catch up as we head to the hotel," Soap intervened, "We have to get our Id's and meet with the customs officials in two hours."

"I brought the Id's with me," Price said, "Figured they would be safer on us than at the hotel."

"Well then we have to still make it look like we left them at the hotel," Anjali stated, "Ghost mind helping me up?"

Soap enjoyed a grin as Ghost passed him the guitar and went to help the Archon. Ghost and Anjali had been real close before she got shot, now though they acted like... well Soap didn't quite know what they acted like. Not siblings, nor lovers, but definitely a couple like John and Cortana or Spyro and Cynder. One of the older couples. But not like K & C or Church and Tex, no the two certainly had their own unique chemistry.

"Ok so back to the hotel then to the customs building," Soap said, "Race you."

"Shotgun," Lucas called as he headed out for the cars.

The cars, two 1970s, trans am, Pontiac Firebirds, both in black with red leather interiors, were more than they appeared. Equipped with satellite communication, twin forward and rearward facing missile tubes hidden behind the bottom sets of lights, revamped twelve cylinder engines and experimental all-grip tires that could cling to just about any surface, including glass. They also helped convince others that Soap and his friends were really rock stars.

"Price your driving," Soap said as he slid into the back seat, "I'll call Jack and Domingo ."

"On it," Price replied, "Just one question how badly do you want to win this race?"

"Oh, I think we can give them a head start," Soap replied, "With you driving it won't help them."

Price and Lucas laughed as Soap turned on the comm. "Legion 141 reporting," Soap said.

"We hear you 141," Domingo replied, "Jack is busy with politics right now but I have the information files on the customs officials that you are going to be interacting with. Remember as 'The Echoes' you are a renegade band of rockers in China to clear the air after the bombings, so don't be too business like."

"You've never seen us in action before," Soap said "Business like is not how we are described."

"Hmmf,"Domingo replied, "Anyway you will be meeting with Cho-Lan Sho, and Hermaous. Sho is a car fan thus your rides, Hermaous is more of a domestic peace keeper so stressing that you will not be unduly riotous should convince him, it will probably be better if you can engineer the conversation so that he 'convinces' you to behave. Got all that?"

"Yeah," Soap confirmed, "Just stand by to call in some favors we may need to be able to back up our bluffs."

"Don't you worry I can arrange for anything you need," Domingo replied, "Now go sell a cover story."

As Soap silenced the comm he looked out the windshield to see that Price had turned off into a back ally. "What are you doing?"

"Short cut," Price said, "Should make a good impression on our hosts."

Soap reached over and strapped himself into the other seat belt, he knew Price was planning a 'drop in' to beat Ghost and his riders. The ally ran along the tops of low-lying buildings and was headed straight for the customs office, the top of the customs office.

"Bad idea, bad idea," Lucas said. Then they went off the edge. The front wheels grabbed and held onto the top of the building while the rear wheels stuck onto the side. Price shifted into reverse and backed down the building and right into a parking spot as Ghost pulled into the lot.

"Now you see why I let him drive," Soap said.

"Remind me why I ride with you two again," Lucas asked.

"Cause you like the excitement," Katarina said as she, Reinhardt, Anjali and Ghost walked over, "Now if your done showing off shall we go in?"

"Yeah just let me do the talking," Soap said as he opened the door. The building's interior was a stark contrast to the early morning dusk that hung outside. With white LED lights, tan walls and tiled floors the office was efficient.

"You must be the Echoes," An elderly man said as he greeted them, "I am Cho-Lan Sho, senior official of this department, I trust that you have had a good reception from our people."

"Yes Mr. Sho," Soap replied, "We did a quick show for some spectators before heading over here actually. They were quite energetic."

"Then I suppose that was you who made such a sound outside," another man said as he entered the room, "I am Hermaous, Sho's supervisor. My duty is to keep the peace after these recent events and while I don't agree with your methods, on that alone I can not deny you entry into my country. However if you continue with such disturbing stunts as trying to park on the top of the building I will have you removed."

"We are actually parked out front," Price said, "Though now that you mention it..."

"Cut it out," Soap said, "Don't worry we mostly put on the renegade act for our concerts, though the occasional race or brawl doesn't hurt to keep the reputation alive."

"Your papers check out," Sho said, "I see you have brought two personal cars with you as well. Lawfully we must check these cars for smuggled items."

"Sure there right out front," Anjali said, "Look all you want."

"Knowing him, if they are nice enough you may have to wait a while for him to 'look all he wants,'" Hermaous added, "So long as you keep our laws I can not do anything to you but if you cross me I will have you removed."

"Sounds fair enough," Soap replied as he took the passports back from Hermaous. "Now we have a show to plan."

They walked back outside where Sho was inspecting the cars.

"These are very nice," Sho said as they approached, "I don't suppose you are looking to sell one?"

"Sorry they are a part of the band," Ghost said, "But maybe we can take you for a ride in them some time."

"Oh no," Sho replied, "Then I would have to have one. But better yet they cleared inspection so you are all ready to go. Just keep your stunts to a minimum the population is already very... charged due to recent events."

"That's why we are here," Soap said, "We just want to give folks an avenue to release some tension."

"Well you have my best wishes even if you don't have my bosses'," Sho said as he went back inside.

Soap let out a sigh, Anjali laid back across the hood of one of the cars, Ghost placed a hand on her shoulder, Price and Reinhardt ran their hands through their beards, and Lucas and Katarina both were grinning.

"Ok everyone into the cars we actually do have a show to plan," Soap reminded them as he dropped into the driver's seat. Katarina took the shotgun seat this time and Price got in the back, the others were in the other car.

"What Lucas couldn't handle our driving," Price said as he called HQ.

"Seems that my brother is more easy to scare than he would like us to think," Kat replied.

Soap and price both laughed before Soap shifted into drive and followed Ghost out of the parking lot and into the streets that were just beginning to see sunshine from over the flat, gray, rooftops. Price was talking with Jack as they headed back to the hotel and hopefully some breakfast.

"Ok so I was thinking," Price said to Jack, "Our band should actually be real, that way no one can find out that it is a cover."

"Sounds reasonable," Jack replied, "but can you pull it off, I mean how many classic rock songs do you know between the seven of you?"

"More than you might think," Kat said. Despite not being officially part of the conversation.

"Well if you know the material I can have all the documents filed for you," Jack said, "Just remember that your there to find out about the weapons, were they built, bought, traded, I want to know everything about these attacks."

"On it boss," Price replied as he cut the comm off, "Well its legitimate now, we are The Echoes. Our first concert, I'm thinking a mix of Crow, Jett, Ozzy, Blue Oysters, you know give 'em a whole spectrum of what we can do."

"I can do Crow, but Anjali is better at Jett," Katarina said, "Price you seem like an Ozzy, and Lucas and Ghost would be great as B.O.C."

"Our concert is in a week think Anjali will be up to it," Soap asked.

"Oh I think so," Kat replied, "Ghost seems to be helping her recover faster than is normal even for an Archon, I think it might have something to do with his history with fire but I'll have to watch them more closely to be sure."

"As long as they stay healthy I don't care how," Soap said, "Now what do we want for breakfast, I'm thinking KFC."

Soap downed the last chicken leg as they pulled into the back ally behind their stage. The comm light flashed as they entered the backrooms of the stage. Price went over and flipped it on as Anjali said something to Ghost about eating out more often and Lucas finished strapping on his swords and shield.

"Jack got some intelligence for us," Soap asked into the phone.

"Sure do," Came Domingo's voice in reply, "Well nothing solid yet but do you think you could video the bomb sites, Tyler, one of the necro's here has an idea maybe the bombs' victims can tell us about the attacks, if they are still hanging around that is."

"Ah like an after image left on the camera," Reinhardt said, "That could work, only thing is those areas are highly radioactive it might interfere with the cameras and only Anjali can even go near the actual craters."

"Domingo is Jack there," Ghost asked.

"Aye, Turner get over here," Domingo called.

"I said don't call me that," Jack's voice echoed through the phone before he got on the line. "141 I'm here what's your idea?"

"You got those high altitude drones right," Ghost said, "So..."

"Take a video of the sites from the air," Soap finished, "Perfect. You can get direct footage of the sites and not have the radiation disrupt the cameras, and Anjali can rest some more."

"141, this is Helda I'm one of the Necromancers," a smooth but light voice said, "We can try it your way but the echoes may not be as visible from above as they are from the ground, if so we will contact you again if this drone works we can just send you the footage."

"That's fine," Soap agreed, "How far out is the closest drone?"

"We have one already over there monitoring the Chinese air space it will be only a matter of minutes before we see if this will work," Jack replied, "Or oh my... You guys want to see this."

Ghost turned on the display screen which was soon downloading the footage that the drone was picking up. All seemed normal until something flashed across the screen, then again, then nothing.

"Hold on can you rewind that and stop it on those flashes," Anjali asked, "I couldn't make out all of it but, that shape seems familiar."

Soap did so and they all jumped back from the screen. On it was a grossly contorted face, a blackened charred face with melted eyes around a fiery pupil, a demon's face, Moroni's face.

"That's not possible," Price said, "Cloak banished him, erased him from time."

"Aye," Reinhardt replied, "But we still remember him, K still remembers him and probably that shadow of K we found in the temple also remembered him."

"Wait your thinking that the evil K you killed was somehow able to bring Moroni back from not existing," Jack coughed, "that's ridiculous, all we have is this one picture."

"Fast forward to the next picture," Price said, "Lets see if that is true."

The next picture was even more dreadful than the first, Moroni had a hand reaching out straight for the drone.

"And that was taken just before the images stopped," Lucas said, "Is the drone still flying?"

"Yes all systems working except for the cameras," Domingo replied, "Well at least he isn't very strong yet."

"Not yet but with all that radiation around how long until he becomes strong enough to be dangerous," Soap added, "No we have to crush this demon before he gains anymore power, but how?"

"Radiation," Anjali commented, "Moroni draws his power from it, so lets neutralize the radiation."

"Jack you got anything that can do this on a large scale," Price asked.

"Hmm... possibly," Jack replied, "there is a process that uses hydrogen gas and cold fusion to neutralize radioactive substances quickly but it has only ever been used on small amounts in secure locations. You would have to have access to an enormous amount of hydrogen to cover an area as large as the fall out zones from those bombs."

"Not to mention some way of cold fusing the hydrogen with the radioactive particles," Domingo added.

"Lets assume we can get that," Soap said, "What would we need to do?"

"The treatment process is actually quite easy," Jack said, "Just get the hydrogen to the correct temperature and then release it near the radiation."

"How hot does the hydrogen need to get," Katarina asked, "Isn't that stuff explosive?"

"It's quite flammable," Reinhardt commented, "igniting at temperatures as low as five-hundred degrees Celsius."

"Well you will only need to get it to about 180C," Jack said, "Which might not sound that hot but trust me you will need a lot of heat to get enough gas to that temperature."

"We can bring the heat," Ghost said, "where can we get the hydrogen?"

"I can help with that," Domingo said, "It's fallen into my hearing about a certain nuclear reactor that happens to stockpile the gas in case of a leak. This particular reactor has also recently come up missing its uranium cores, the perfect material to make say a bomb with. Only problem is its owned by a splinter group of the Russian government and won't be easy to get into, unless you can make enough from the show business to buy the hydrogen you need, ha-ha-ha."

"That just might work," Soap said.

"Yeah," Price agreed, "and if we can't buy it from them then force is always an option."

Character Redford

"Wait a little to the left, little more, perfect," Red directed as Orthino lowered another block of stone into place on the wall. "You know with your help this is going much faster."

"Well it should," Orthino replied with a grunt, "I'll bet even the moles are having a hard time keeping up with how fast I can place these stones."

"Here's the next one," Ve said as she and Chris drug another thirty ton brick over to the elder dragon.

"Hey you think we can finish the wall today," Chris asked.

"Possibly," Orthino replied as he hefted the brick for Red to direct into place.

They had steadily been rebuilding the wall for three weeks now and there was only a few hundred yards left to go. On this clear warm morning, with the plain spread out before him Redford could almost feel the fishing pole in his hands. They were close to the end of what they could fix, the interior buildings and roads would have to be rebuilt by the moles since they were the only ones who could carve and place the stones for the arches and other structural components that required a more delicate touch than the dragons could give.

"Ok right there," Red said as another block was set into place, "I wonder what the others are doing."

"Getting into trouble most likely," Orthino replied as he stretched out his back, "After all they are a demolitions team, a werewolf orc, and two vampires, pretty much anything they do will be trouble."

"You read my mind," Redford commented as Chris and Ve brought in another block, "Hey have you two seen Grish or my squad?"

"Not since we left the tower," Chris replied, "I'm sure they are somewhere around here."

"That's what worries us," Red and Orthino said.

"Jinx," Orthino added.

"What, I err fine," Red replied, "That is three for you and two for me."

"You must be on today's count," Ve commented as she and Chris flew back for more stones.

"You know if before I entombed myself someone told me I would be helping to rebuild my city with humans, orcs, and vampires while keeping track of a jinx tally I would have thought they were crazy," Orthino stated.

"Agreed," Red replied, "How many more blocks do you think we need?"

"Well the wall is six blocks tall and each block is about thirty feet long, so... maybe another twenty or so," Orthino said, "I guess we should tell Chris and Ve to tell the moles to slow down their excavations."

"We should tell them what now," Chris asked as they two dragons dragged another block over to them.

"Slow down the excavations we may only need another twenty or so blocks," Redford said.

"Oh good," Ve exclaimed, "Cause I think my legs are starting to cramp."

"And My back," Orthino added, "I'm sorely tempted to take a break but we need to finish this wall today."

"Just don't hurt yourselves," Red said, "Just say the word and I'll throw my own strength behind moving these boulders."

"Appreciated," Orthino said as the other two dragons went back for another stone, "But I doubt it would help."

"My strength isn't in my back its in my brain," Red replied, "We could line the path from the quarry to here with logs to roll the bricks over."

"Except that dragons are to heavy to walk on the logs without splintering them," Orthino said.

"Oh right," Red said as he directed the next block into place, "Well it was worth a shot."

"Run, run, run, run," Sweetwater shouted as he and Preston bolted past Redford and Orthino.

"What the..." Red stammered.

"That doesn't sound good," Orthino remarked, "Shall we go see what has them so excited?"

"Yeah then I'm going to knock their heads together," Red added.

They caught up to Sweets and Preston who were being pinned down by Ve.

"Its something big and and red and its got a huge ax that cut right through solid rock," Preston said, "I'm sure its trying to kill us."

"Ok can you start from the beginning," Red asked, "Where were you and where are the others?"

"Well Hags and Serana are probably still over at the quarry," Ve said, "They have been using the Pyrolauncher to cut out these blocks."

"Well that explains why they've been able to keep up with us," Orthino remarked.

"And where are Grish and Lyd," Redford continued.

"Uh we are not sure about that," Sweets replied, "Last we saw them was when we left the tower, they were headed for the coast."

"Ok so everyone is accounted for," Orthino said, "Now what were you running from?"

"That," Preston said as he pointed behind Redford, "Duck Red."

Redford ducked as he heard the swish of a blade pass over him and the crack of a lightening bolt that Ve shot at whatever was behind him. As he got up and turned around he saw a ten foot tall molten golem with a shimmering ax in its hands. Then he saw Orthino's foot crush the creature into the ground.

"That is what sent you running," Orthino asked, "A lowly fire elemental?"

"Well yeah," Sweets said, "We ain't got scales or lightening breath and we ain't forty feet tall!"

"Hey whats the hold up," Hags called as he and Serana walked up to them, "We've got your rocks cut out."

"Ok enough with the rocks jokes," Serana said, "Your just like a five year old."

"Oh come on I'm three at the most," Hags replied.

"Seems a fire elemental scared these tow off," Orthino said, "If you guys are done with the quarrying could you all round up Grish and Lyd and go with Preston and Sweets here to see where this creature came from. While they don't pose much of a threat to dragons, they could be very deadly to the cheetahs and moles."

"Yeah and us," Preston added.

"Since when did that ever bother you," Red asked, "Last I recall you joined up with us because we are dangerous."

"I... we well, can bullets kill those things?" Preston replied.

"Probably not," Orthino replied, "But you've got more than bullets at you disposal, last I saw Lydia and Serana can both cast ice spells, those should be more than sufficient to dispatch any fire elementals you come across."

"I'd still bring your guns," Reed advised, "Never know."

"Alright fine we're going," Sweets said as he and Preston picked themselves up.

"Come on," Serana said, "I can feel Lydia's presence coming from this direction."

"Ok that's one of the more creepy vampire traits," Red said as the four of them walked off.

"I know right," Veronica added.

"Well lets get this wall finished so I can go fishing," Red said.

"I'm going with you on that," Orthino said as he lifted the brick that Chris and Ve were dragging.

After another two hours the other twenty blocks had been placed and the wall was completely restored. Well except for the moles coming in behind them and polishing up any chips or cracks that might have been produced in the movement and placing process. Chris was helping Veronica stretch out her legs and looking rather exhausted himself while Orthino lay on his back to relieve the pressure of lifting the massive stones. Redford was mildly thirsty after giving directions all day but he figured that was a minor issue compared to the three dragons.

"Ahh there we go," Orthino sighed as a loud crack sound came from his back, "Ok I'm ready for some fishing."

"Does fishing involve sleeping," Chris asked.

"Yes it does," Redford replied, "And beer. First though I should see what the others have been up to this entire time. You think they actually found any more of those molten creatures?"

"Its possible but unlikely," Orthino said, "Fire elementals don't usually congregate in mass."

"Where do you think they got off to," Ve asked.

"Probably got sidetracked at the beach," Chris replied, "They had to go there to get Grish and Lyd."

"Well the faster we find them the faster we can get to fishing," Orthino declared as he rolled over, "Red get on."

Redford climbed onto the dragon's back and got a firm grip, Orthino liked a violent take off. The dragon exploded off the ground like a rocket sending them halfway across the city in one bound another bound landed them at the beach. Red got down as Orthino sniffed the air.

"Smell them anywhere," Red asked.

"Yes but the scent is not strong enough for them to still be here," Orthino said, "They must have left here an hour and a half ago."

"That would be about the time that Sweets, Preston, Hags and Serana met up with them," Red stated, "I guess they really did go hunting for these elementals after all."

"Prompted by the werewolf no doubt," Chris remarked as he and Ve landed beside them, "I guess this will put off the fishing, beer and sleep."

"Well sleep and fishing anyways," Redford said, "beer is portable, and since I'll bet the trail will lead us past a kitchen we can pick up some there and maybe some food."

"I could go for some ox how about everyone else," Orthino said, "I'll buy."

"Fine by me," Chris said, "After all you do have a treasure room the size of the city."

A little while later and they each had a bag of flame cooked ox meat and a cup, or bucket for the dragons, of a dark ale. The dragons had the bag of meat hang down one side of their neck and the ale off the other side for ease of access. Redford was right his squad and friends had passed by a roaster and bar on their way to the main entrance to the Warfang tunnels.

"Why do we have an entrance to these tunnels if only bad stuff keeps coming out of them," Ve pondered aloud as the four of them passed into the cool, damp underground.

"Nice and quiet in here," Chris said, "I find it relaxing."

An explosion shattered the stillness of the air followed by, "Collapse that tunnel there are more of them coming from that way!"

"That's Sweets," Red exclaimed, "Orthino get us there, I don't like the sound of this."

Orthino charged forward almost throwing Redford off. From a tunnel to their right they heard gunfire and shouting. Redford pulled out his pistol, wishing he had brought along some bigger weapons, as Orthino kicked off a wall and slid into the tunnel. As they continued through the dark maze of underground Chris and Ve caught up to them. Then the tunnel opened out into a cavern in which were Bad Co. and Grish Co. as Redford had taken to calling Grishnake, Lydia, and Serana, were actively fending off more of the fire elementals.

"Everyone get behind me," Orthino yelled. Bad Co. dropped back as Grish, Lyd and Serana held the fire elementals at bay. Then they too fell back. As the Elementals advanced Red felt something building in the air, a hair raising chill. Then Orthino opened his maw and out poured a wall of swirling, icy, death that extinguished the fire elementals where they stood. "Now then that should solve our problem for them moment, but where did those creatures come from. Elementals have not been seen here in thousands of years."

"Yeah we found the source of them," Grish said.

"Its another time rift, like the one I got sucked through when I first met K and Spyro and them, but stable," Hags added.

"Blarg, I thought we had fixed those," Redford said, "Can we close it?"

"Only one way to find out," Orthino replied as he moved farther into the tunnel, "Show me."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Can We Get A Recount On That?

Character Doug

Kitchen, clear, hall 1102, clear, pods 1100-1199, clear, Doug was scanning the interior of his flagship 'The Pestilence' as he was sleeping, or whatever was the closest thing to sleeping for a Gravemind. As his resting conciseness drifted through the vastness of his growth he could sweep the areas for any unusual activity. Flight deck 1000, clear, machine shop 990, clear, hall 1101, anomaly, pods 1000- 1099, clear... Doug snapped back into full awareness as the anomaly alarm caught up to him.

He brought up the video display for hall 1101, inside the hall was a man. The subject was sleeping, like he was unaware of where he was or the danger that put him in. The black man, who appeared to be in his mid forties and had a short buzz cut and glasses, was more importantly not part of the ships crew or DC. "Where did you come from little one," Doug mumbled to himself.

"Where did what come from," Adam asked as the robot man walked onto the bridge, "And how far are we from Haven?"

"Haven and the planet it is on are still about four hours away," Doug replied, "Here is something interesting for you though, see about this stowaway."

Doug showed Adam the video feed and Adam blinked in surprise.

"That can't be here on the ship," Adam stated, "That man is Arie Van Bruggen a world class hacker. He 'helped' me out a few times back before I started rolling with K."

"Well the camera is viewing hall 1101," Doug replied, "You know your way around why don't you go see him and find out how he got here."

Adam was already heading for the door as Doug finished speaking. _"K get to the bridge we may have a problem,"_ Doug though as Adam left through the doors.

_"C and I will be right there,"_ K replied.

Doug moved one of his spoors in along side Adam as he headed towards Van Bruggen. "I decided to come along and see what was happening for myself," Doug explained to Adam's inquiring look, "Besides if he wakes up and moves we can follow him with the cameras from the bridge."

"Just don't eat him," Adam replied with a grin, "He may be helpful."

K and C entered the bridge, Doug waved them over to the monitor where he explained who the man was and that he and Adam were going to greet their new arrival.

"We never even went to Adam's time," C commented, "So there is no way that that man can be who Jensen thinks he is."

"Possibly," K replied, "Adam is rarely wrong about such things, and now after Ivan's father, Brackman, transferred Adam's mind into a digital version... I really hope Adam is mistaken."

"Van Bruggen," Adam said as he and Doug approached the still sleeping man, "Wake up you lazy..."

"Wha... who? Hold on I didn't hack your account I swear on mt wife's grave," Van Bruggen stammered as he jolted awake, "Wait Jensen? What are you doing... we aren't in the Caribbean are we?"

"No your not," Adam replied, "Now stop play dumb and tell me how you got on this ship."

"Look I don't know nothing about no ship... and what the hell is that thing," Van Bruggen asked as he pointed at Doug.

"I am Doug," Doug replied, "Flood Gravemind and captain of this interstellar fleet collectively know as The Pestilence. Now how did you get on board my ship?"

"Look I don't know, Last thing I remember is I was on my beach chair ready to take a nap and then here you are, and interstellar? Are we on a spaceship?"

"World class hacker huh," K said, "He sure is slow on the upload, hahaha. However he definitely is the man Adam thought he was and that is bad news. Doug bring them back here then get DC to meet us in Hangar 3600, its the only one big enough for all of us."

"Come on K want's to see him on the bridge," Doug said to Adam, "I think he has some bad news."

"Wait your not going to kill me are you," Arie said as he pulled a heavily modified revolver from its hidden holster, "Cause I might have other ideas."

"Hey you kept my revolver," Adam said, "Don't worry, If K has bad news its generally on a universal level, he doesn't bother with individual crisis to often."

"Well do you mind telling me how I got here," Arie asked as he put the revolver back in its holster.

"Tell him I will answer that," K said to Doug who relayed the message to Van Bruggen.

"Oh I'm sure that is going to make him feel better," C said sarcastically.

"Who is this K dude," Van Bruggen asked as he followed Doug and Adam back towards the bridge.

"Probably the only one who can tell you how you got here then get you back home," Adam replied.

While Adam filled Arie in on the details Doug found the other DC members and relayed the message to gather in Hangar 3600. Cortana was already there of course, she was maintaining the ACU's while Griffen, Ivan, and Riza were in the dinning hall getting some food. The others would make their way in before K finished questioning Arie and headed there himself. Doug diverted his spoor form to another site and returned his attention to the bridge as Adam and Van Bruggen walked in.

"So Adam, Hes a friend of yours," C asked as they walked in.

"Something like that," Adam replied as he stepped over to one of the chairs and sat down.

K walked up to the obviously nervous Van Bruggen, "Let em guess, you were one the beach one minute and the next your here." K said.

"Its true," Arie replied, "Happened just like you said."

"Crap..." K sighed, "Well I hate to tell you this but your stuck with us for a while. A time rift got you and you were lucky enough to end up here instead of a few feet outside the ship. Due to the unstable nature of the rifts we can not take you back just yet, that could turn the rift into a tunnel and then its bye bye Earth."

Van Bruggen looked at K for a minute then looked over to Adam and asked, "Is he serious?"

"Yes," Adam replied.

"Your serious," Arie asked K.

"Yes," K confirmed.

"Ah come on man, and I had just hooked up with a fine girl too," Arie complained, "And next your going to tell me that my credits are no good here."

"Don't worry," Doug said, "Your money is good and I'm sure you can find yourself a girl here, many of them are single anyways."

"Don't encourage him," Adam warned, "Next he will be hacking into your radio frequencies."

"Already did that," Arie replied, "You know you should tighten up security around here."

"World class hacker indeed," C stated, "Perhaps he can be useful after all."

Doug looked at K and asked, "Do you think?"

"There is a fine line between luck and intervention," K replied, "Let his see the data."

Adam perked up at that asking, "What data?"

"We've been trying to determine when and where the next demon attack will hit," C explained, "And with roughly how many demons. We have been using a computer matrix software to calculate the probabilities or demons on each of the planets that a DC member is from."

"Excluding the planets we have already been," Doug continued as the monitor began displaying the information, "We have decided that the city of Haven is the next most likely target. We just use the city's name because the planet has a good four or five names and that can get bothersome."

"This, this is, Oh God." Arie stated.

"What," K asked, "Never seen a demon before?"

"What oh no, but according to this data there will be about a half million demons on the planet, most of them are projected to be in or near a large forest several hundred miles north west of Haven and about a hundred thousand in the city itself," Van Bruggen explained.

"How many," Doug asked in disbelief.

"Five hundred thousand," Arie replied, "At least. Adam What did I get into this time?"

"Something legitimate at least," Adam replied, "But very dangerous. You guys knew there would be that many demons right?"

"No we had it estimated at a tenth of that number," Doug replied, "K go explain things to the others, I'll get Cortana and Ivan in here to double check these figures."

"You don't need to double check them," Arie said pointing at the monitor, "The numbers are there."

"Adam, take Arie with you," Doug added as K, C, and Adam started to leave.

"Right come on," Adam said as he grabbed Van Bruggen's arm and pulled the man out the door.

Character Hawk/Fisher

Hawk and Fisher were sleeping when Doug's call to rally in hangar 3600 went out. Now Hawk was hopping down the hall after Fisher while trying to get his other boot on.

"Could you wait up for a minute," Hawk asked.

Looking back and seeing his predicament Fisher stopped and chuckled at him, which made him scowl. "You wouldn't have such trouble if you tried unbuckling it first," Fisher said.

Hawk looked at her then back down to his boot, it was still buckled. "Blarg I must be getting old and forgetful," Hawk commented as he undid his shoe buckles and finally got his bot on. "Thanks for pointing that out, could have been embarrassing," Hawk added.

"Embarrassed, you," Fisher said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Good point," Hawk replied as they resumed their walk towards the hangar.

"Hawk, Fisher," It was CT and Rodger, "Whats the emergency?"

"Like always not a blarg clue," Fisher replied flippantly, "K is never very clear when it comes to his plans."

"What did we arrive at the wrong planet," Rodger asked, "I hate it when that happens."

"But Doug's never had us arrive at... oh," Hawk said, "Must have been back when you rolled with the resistance."

"Bingo," Rodger replied as they turned into one of the main hallways and ran into Carter, Cloak and Four.

"Oh hey Rodger, How's it going," Cloak asked, "Cony good to see you too."

"Cloak always a pleasure," Rodger replied, "Vince, Carl, Carter, ready for another adventure?"

"I just hope it doesn't end up with us getting eaten," Carl said, "Its bad for my health."

"Ha, that's true," Fisher replied as she and Hawk opened the doors to the hanger, "And here we are."

Cortana and Ivan both walked out past them with brief waves before heading for the bridge, rather quickly too.

"Well that can't be good," Vince said, "Never seen those two move that fast. Well except when they are fighting."

"Hey over here," Sarge called out to them as they entered the hanger.

They walked over to the pelican where Sarge and the red team were, "Sarge," Hawk greeted, "You guys the only ones here?"

"For now," Simmons said, "Everyone else is on their way and Cortana and Ivan just left to go look at some data, but I've hacked into the system, with Church's help and we can see everything that in on the bridge's monitors. Come look at this."

"So its a big number what does that mean," Hawk said as he looked at the geographical overlay of the planet they were approaching, "Wait I know those cities, there is Haven, and that's the Forest Kingdom.

"And your castle," Fisher said.

"My brother's castle, thank God for that," Hawk corrected, "And there is the Darkwood... Fisher, look at the wood its bigger than even when...

"It's almost right at the castle gates," Fisher replied, "Then that number."

"Means there are five-hundred thousand or so demons in or near the wood," K finished as he, C, Adam and a scrawny man came in behind them. "I was going to wait and tell everyone at once but you've already figured it out."

"Nice hacking job," The little man said, "Very clean."

"Thanks," Church said as he floated into view from around the side of the pelican, "I'll take all the credit."

"Who are you," Carter asked, "last I checked we were in space not at a dock."

"This is Arie Van Bruggen," Adam said, "An old 'friend' of mine."

"Hey come on man, I helped you out on a few occasions," Arie said, "Granted Maybe not entirely through legal means but still..."

"Look on the bright side," Adam replied, "Your not dead and you might even find some one who really likes you."

"Hey do you really think so," Arie said, "That purple chick we passed..."

"Cortana is taken," John said as he, Main and Washington walked over.

"Really by who," Arie asked.

"Him," Hawk said with a smirk while pointing to John.

"Oh right," Arie replied, "Sorry. But she is a looker."

"K there you are," AuRel said as he, Irene, RuGaard, Nilrasha, Darsii, Wistala, AuRon, Natasha, Zara and Zar entered the room. Arie fainted at the sight of both undead and live dragons. Adam bent down to wake him up and K walked over to the group.

"Arie wake up," Adam hissed. When that didn't work he looked at the others for ideas.

"I'll get him up," Fisher said. She drew her sword and smacked the flat of the blade across Arie's hand.

"Gahh!" Arie cried attracting the dragons' attention but only for a second as K was explaining to the growing crowd of DC members about the planet's situation and their new visitor. "What was that?"

"My sword hitting your hand," Fisher replied, "Next time don't faint."

"But those are, I mean real, live..." Arie stammered.

"So a massive parasite hive-mind named Doug piloting a ship in outer space with me and various extremely dangerous individuals doesn't bother you but an undead dragon sends you to Z-vill," Adam commented, "Your a strange little man, Van Bruggen."

"So what are we going to do," Thorn rumbled from the larger gathering of DC, "That's our home down there, I'm not going to just pass it by because there are a lot of demons."

"What was that," Hawk asked as he and Fisher walked into the middle of the growing crowd, "That's our home too, and RuGaard's empire is still there we can't just leave all those people and dragons to be overwhelmed by the demons."

"No one said anything about leaving," K replied, "No what we need first is a verification of the numbers that our new arrival came up with and the best way to do that is to send down a scouting party of six to ten people who can communicate back to the ship."

"We're in," Fisher said, "And that's not up for debate."

"I'm going," DarSii added, "I know the land better than most anyone else so it makes sense for scouting."

"Thorn and I will go," Murtagh stated.

"That leaves one open slot," RuGaard observed, "Who will be the communicator?"

"I will," Adam said as he clanked over to them, "Van Bruggen has my info-link frequency so we can contact each other. He can act as the relay to the rest of of you."

"What the new guy," Krista said, "He seems kinda shady."

"That's cause he is," Fisher remarked, causing Hawk to choke back a laugh.

"Shady or not It's not like I have much of a choice," Arie said, "Jensen here will probably blow my head off if I screw this up."

"Close enough," Adam confirmed, "So when do we arrive?"

"In thirty minutes," Doug said, "You'd best hurry and get ready to leave, we will be entering atmosphere soon."

"We'll need a pelican unless we can all fit onto two dragon backs," Hawk said, "Adam can you drive one of those?"

"In twenty years you never learned how," Fisher asked, "Come on I'm driving."

"I'll ride down on Thorn," Murtagh said, "See you on the ground, oh where are we landing?"

"Haven," RuGaard said, "That's where left from so that's where we will return to."

With that the group split up, Hawk and Fisher headed back to their room to gather up their stuff while the others went to prepare for either the scouting party of the full blown assault that most likely would result from the amount of demons that were supposed to be on planet. Hawk grabbed his ax and cloak, Fisher grabbed their coin purse and then they headed for the pelican bay. The Pelican bay, hangar 3000, was on the other side of the ship from their room, they were still the second and third ones in, Adam having just walked straight from Hangar 3600 across to 3000.

"Is it just us then," Hawk asked as they got into the ship.

"Yeah," Adam replied, "DarSii is heading out from hangar 3600 with Murtagh an Thorn.

"And here we thought we had beaten them over here," Fisher remarked as she fired up the jets, "Ok hold onto something, we are going to be getting pulled through hyper-space alongside the Pestilence."

Hawk grabbed onto the seat next to him and the railing that was above him as the pelican lurched out into the slipstream of space that they were passing through. The idea was that as soon as they reached the planet Fisher, Hawk and Adam could sail right on down to Haven without using as much fuel to get up to speed, and beat the other three too.

"Emerging in five," Adam said, "And we're away."

Fisher aimed the craft towards the west side of the planet, they had arrived at evening in the city of Haven.

"Well this should make for quite the show," Hawk said, "Assuming that anyone is alive to see it."

"As scumbaggy as Haven's people were," Fisher said, "I do hope there is some life down there other than demons."

"How did you two end up being guards there anyway," Adam asked, "I thought you said something about a brother with a castle are you royalty?"

"Were," Fisher said, "But being a princess is so dull and restrictive, and so many nobles just need a good punch in the face..."

"Yeah lets just say we didn't get along," Hawk said, "So I let my brother have the castle and I got Fisher instead."

"Sounds like you got the better deal," Adam remarked.

"Oh I did," Fisher said, "Get ready for a jolt we are going to be hitting the atmosphere in just a." The pelican jerked, rattled, and vibrated cutting Fisher off, and causing her to bite her tongue. "Ow," she exclaimed as she got the ship back on course.

"Bit your tongue," Hawk asked.

"Oh shut up," Fisher replied, "Hey look behind us its Thorn, Murtagh and DarSii, They seem to be trying to catch up."

"Oh dear," Hawk muttered as he took a seat and buckled in, "Adam I'd lock down if I were you."

"She's competitive I know," Adam replied as he magnetized his feet and hands to the sides and floor of the pelican, "This should be fun."

Hawk's heart jumped into his mouth then fell into his stomach as Fisher put the pelican into a steep dive then pulled up sharply and speed low across the ground towards the city. She then spun the pelican around to stop it with the back door facing one of the gates into Haven.

"Thank you for riding with Haven air you may now disembark," Fisher said as she opened the back doors and then walked back into the passenger section where Adam and Hawk were.

"Don't do that again," Hawk said as he unclenched his hands from the safety belts in the seats next to him. Two thuds outside signaled that Thorn, Murtagh and DarSii had landed next to them.

Hawk exited the plane with Adam and Fisher close behind him. Thorn and Murtagh were searching around for demons, DarSii was extracting his foot from a sinkhole he had landed in. With a crack rocky chunks flew up from the ground as the dragon pulled his claw free.

"Huh," Fisher commented, "More caves under Haven...great."

"Speaking of Haven," Hawk said, "Someone should have seen us land."

"Someone did," replied a voice from behind them, "Tho I do have to ask where you two have been to get such interesting new friends and equipment."

Turning around Hawk recognized a familiar face, Lord Hightower, who looked every bit of what his name implied. With sharp features and pronounced muscles, garbed in leather and chained plate mail, Lord Hightower looked every bit as regal as he sounded.

"Lord Hightower," Hawk greeted, "It's a long story, what about you how is the god squad working out?"

"Quite well actually," Hightower replied, "Between us and SWAT we've been able to keep the demons from the north out so far but they are growing in numbers and strength, even the Beings are starting to take an active hand in the defense of their home."

"That sounds bad," Murtagh said, "What are the Beings?"

"Demi-gods, false-gods, mini-gods, who cares," Fisher replied, "All anyone knows is they have great power."

"They might think that until they meet us," Hawk said, "Hightower, can you get us all inside the city without to much fuss?"

"Hmm... the two most well know guards, a metal man, a prince, and two dragons," Hightower mused, "Yes I think I can do that."

"Prince," Murtagh said, "How could you know that?"

"Its in your bearing," Hightower said as he turned to lead them to the gate, "You were obviously raised as a noble."

A few minutes later and they were inside the city, or at least under it. Hightower had taken them through the gate and immediately down into the underground warrens that supported Haven. These warrens had become so frequented that there was even a bar set up in one of the larger rooms, which they were now sitting in.

"You know I could get used to this warm dampness," DarSii said, "Its refreshing and relaxing."

"Well I don't know about the environment but this beer is certainly helping," Hawk commented.

"It won't be in the morning," Murtagh said.

"No that will only be if he has another five or so," Fisher replied.

"Quiet all of you I'm relaying to DC what the situation is here," Adam said.

"Ok so," Hightower started, "Fill me in."

"Right," Hawk said, "Well you were here when the dragon's were making that treaty with us right?"

"I was, though I was not involved in the treaty itself," Hightower replied.

"Well it was K and Dragon Company that ended up recruiting the dragon empire's leaders," Hawk continued, "It was also them who found that huge robot under the mountains and who held off the demonic and Seraphic invaders the last time these guys showed up. So when given the chance we joined up with them. There is about another hundred or so members of the actual DC and then there is the crews on the ships, Doug's flood faction and the armies that Griffen and the other ACUs can create on the spot that makes us exceptionally effective."

"Wow all that in six months," Hightower asked.

"No for us its been closer to twenty five years," Fisher said.

"Twenty five years," Hightower exclaimed, "You look exactly like you did six months ago!"

"Yeah well apparently living around twenty Leviathans is good for the health," Thorn remarked.

"Guys listen up," Adam interrupted, "K is getting DC together on one ship that he plans to land next to Haven so we need to make sure the area he is going to land it in is clear come on."

"And I only got to have one beer," Hawk muttered as he got up to follow Adam, Fisher downed the last of hers before following suit.

Character Ezio

Where am I was the first thing the Italian assassin thought when he landed in a pile of leaves and was surrounded by trees instead of the hay and buildings he was diving into and off of just a moment ago. More to the point where were the templars that were trying to kill him? He turned around to take in the land scape but nothing, no sign of anyone else out here with him, just the forest. He quickly checked to see if he had all of his gear before finding north and then heading west, he hoped to prolong the day thus giving him more time to encounter other people and find out where he was and how he got wherever it was that he ended up.

After what felt like six hours he finally picked up voices, but not in any language he recognized. He followed the voices and saw through the foliage the owners of the mysterious language, but they were certainly not human. There were four of them, all seemed to be were-goats and the creatures were carrying large brutish axes, maces, and poleaxes. Ezio had no idea where he was or what sort of creatures lived in this place but he could tell that these goat men were not natural or good. It didn't take him long to decide to kill the four creatures, after all he thought if they are were-goats then their brains, hearts, livers, arteries and other kill spots should be the same.

He loaded one of the four rounds he had left into his hidden gun and took aim. The shot rang out and one goat dropped the other three however immediately turned towards him, not something Ezio was expecting. The goats charged him with bleats and swings from their weapons. Ezio found the clumsy attacks easy to block and dodge and another goat was dead after the three had charged him, a knife wound through his heart and liver. The remaining two wailed and charged him again, but their vengeance was not to be as his hidden blades found both goats' neck arteries dropping the creatures in seconds.

"What sort of devil span are you," he asked the dead creatures.

"Kazra," a female voice replied from behind the kneeling assassin, "you had the good fortune of finishing off the hunting party that we've been culling for weeks now. Otherwise there would have been another twenty angry goat boys breathing down you neck, not a pleasant position to be in."

"That you have culling? Since when do women fight demons," Ezio asked as he got up and turned around to see a tall woman in leather and plate armor. Her eyes glowed yellow under the crimson hood she wore that hid most of her face her toned arms with a drawn bow aimed at him drew most of his attention, well the bow did anyways.

"Since they kill my family and left my sister and me to die after having violated us and slashed us until we almost died," the woman hissed at him she lowered the bow as she sighed, "Sorry, I should know that most men think we females need to be protected and all but I just get so sick of it sometimes. My name is Bethany, I should be thanking you for finishing off these demons but I had really hoped to kill them myself."

"Um, right I'm Ezio," Ezio replied, "Well your welcome, um do you know how I can get back to Forli?"

"I've never heard of Forli," Bethany replied, "What country is it in?"

"Italy," Ezio replied fearing that he might be farther away from home than he could travel on his current rations.

"Still nothing," Bethany said, "Look it will be dark here soon, why don't you come back to our camp maybe my sister can help you she is better acquainted with countries than I am."

Ezio at first wanted to decline, but after looking up at the sun which was already casting long, dark shadows through the forest he inclined his head for her to lead on. Bethany returned the nod then headed south, the direction she had come from. Ezio followed and as he did he noticed a few features about his strange companion, she seemed to shrink in size as they moved, he could have sword that she was taller than he was back at the Kazra camp but now he saw that she could not have been more than five foot four or five, compared to his five ten and a half. She also seemed to seamlessly meld into the shadows as she passed through them like she had been taught by a master assassin how to sneak. He also couldn't deny the stark beauty that she radiated, not a sexual beauty but a ferocity, a nobility, a natural earthy strength that seeped from her as she moved, it was like watching a hawk soar through the clouds but she did it with the darkness.

They arrived at the came without much talk, it was a simple set up, two tents and a fire with some birds roasting on a spit. It seemed to be unattended but at Bethany's call another woman stuck here head out from one of the tents.

"Bethany," the woman called back, "How did the hunt go and who is that with you he's got some strange armor."

"What's so strange about it," Ezio asked.

"Well its white, if you want to stand out to the demons then ok but for stealth use black or red," the other woman replied.

"Ezio this is Lilith my sister," Bethany said, "Lilith, Ezio. He actually took care of the Kazra for me, I got to watch the whole thing, it was very impressive. I still haven't figured out how you killed that first one though, it looked like a spell but I saw nothing but the dead Kazra and heard the bamp sound that it made."

"That's my secret weapon," Ezio replied not yet wanting to give away all his secrets to these two.

"Fine be that way," Bethany said as she went to stir the birds over the fire, "Lilith have you ever heard of Italy or Forli?"

"No, what are they lost cities" Lilith asked from inside her tent.

"Forli is my home," Ezio replied, "It's located in Italy, do either of you even know where that is?"

"Unless its a local term for it I know of no city called Forli in Sanctuary," Lilith said, "I'm sorry but it sounds like you've gone and gotten a right bit lost."

"Lost doesn't even describe it," Ezio said, "I've never heard of this Sanctuary your talking about."

The sisters looked at each other, then back at him. Lilith walked out of her tent for the first time and really looked him over. Lilith was tall, she must have been almost seven feet tall, with long, straight, black hair that was held out of her eyes with a gold tiara that had rubies inlaid in it. She wore a red robe that had a slight V around the neck and white trim that ran around the edges of the garment. Her eyes were a sparkling green and seemed to be as deep as the ocean. Her angular face gave her a regal look with her remarkable eyes, trim nose, hair covered ears and pursed lips. He looked over at Bethany and saw that she too had almost the exact same facial features as Lilith, except for the glowing eyes bit, that was a little disconcerting.

"You've never heard of Sanctuary," Lilith asked redundantly, "That's strange since your living in it. Sanctuary is this world." She waved her hand across the horizon to expound on her point.

"This world is called Sanctuary," Ezio said as a cold feeling started to build in his gut, "Not Earth?"

"No," Bethany replied as Lilith rolled her eyes like he had grown claws or something, "We've never heard of Earth. What is it?"

"It's where I am from," Ezio sighed, "And from the sound of things and what I've seen so far it sounds like home is very far away from here."

The sisters looked at each other again. Twins he thought, they must be twins. Bethany motioned for him to take a seat next to her at the fire. "Your home," she asked as he sat, "How long have you lived there?"

"Most all my life," Ezio replied, "I'd occasionally go out for jobs and such but I maintained a modest standard without having to take to many contracts."

"Your what about thirty five or six," Lilith asked, "So you must have lived in this Forli for fifteen or more years correct?"

"Close enough," Ezio replied.

"Then this must not be easy for you to have lost it all," Lilith added, "We were only fourteen when the demons destroyed ours."

"I... I'm sorry," Ezio said, "That's why you hunt them I heard."

"Well Beth hunts them, she's the demon hunter after all," Lilith said, "I do not have the taint within me so I can not be attuned to the demon's like she can be."

"So that explains the glowing eyes," Ezio said, "and how the shadows seem to swallow you as you move through them."

"Indeed," Bethany replied, "Lilith though is the one with the gift of magic, show him something, Lil."

Lilith had removed the birds from the fire and was wielding a knife to cut them up as Bethany asked for the demonstration. Lilith rolled her eyes again then tossed the knife into the air swiped her hand over the birds while muttering something incomprehensible, causing glowing blades to slice the birds into pieces then caught the tossed knife and set it back down.

"How was that," She asked.

"Interesting," Ezio responded, "Did the knife play a roll in the cutting of was that just to add to the show?"

"That was just for show," Lilith said as she passed out pieces of the birds, "no the summoned blades did all the cutting. You'll not find a bone splintered just neatly cut."

"Might I ask what this bird is," Ezio said, "It wouldn't be chicken by any chance?"

"Well of course it's chicken," Bethany said with a laugh, "What did you expect?"

"So on a completely different world there is chicken," Ezio remarked as he bit into the leg, "Hmm... Not bad."

"That's one of my basic spells," Lil added, "There are many more skills I can call upon if need be."

"So your mostly ranged then," Ezio asked in surprise, "Both of you?"

"Well yes," Beth responded, "It has it weak points sure but nothing we haven't learned how to deal with. Although you seem more accustom to close range melee fighting."

"Indeed," Ezio said, "My line of work is more suited for close ranged encounters with the occasional distance kill."

"What exactly is your line of work," Beth asked, "You have some pretty impressive equipment for a typical sell-sword."

"You mean my gun and hidden blades," Ezio extrapolated, "True, not something a typical mercenary would carry. I deal in more discrete assignments, stealth is usually my preferred rout."

"Your an assassin," Lil remarked, "I've heard of your kind, well what is the closest equivalent to what you sound like for Sanctuary."

"Assassination is what I do," Ezio confirmed, "Does the profession pay well here?"

"I wouldn't know," Lil said, "But we could. As my sister pointed out we are missing a critical element of combat given our skills, you sound like you could fill that void perfectly."

"Well I would hate to see you two ladies getting hurt or killed because I didn't accept," Ezio started, "But I would still like to know how much is 'well'?"

"A third of what we find in our travels, and a third of the bounty on our marks," Beth clarified, "The bounties run anywhere from a thousand gold to ten thousand gold for extremely troublesome demons. Not bad eh?"

"That's not bad," Ezio agreed, "Well you charmed me into it, just let me tell the king that I'll have to cancel tea tomorrow."

That remark brought a laugh to the ladies' faces, and the laughter brought the attention of more demons. These weren't the goat men they were small, maybe three feet at most and red, but there were more of them about sixteen. These small impish creature had twin horns on their heads, red coals for eyes, slits for noses, a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, and carried nasty swords, axes, and shields. Lightning arced through three of the creatures dropping them and causing the others to back off for a few seconds.

"Fallen," Lilith hissed, "I hate these guys."

"I take it the lightning was you," Ezio said as he circled the fire waiting for the fallen to rush back in. Lil just shot a smirk his way in answer. The Fallen rushed back in this time with shouts of rage and fear. Ezio jumped on two of them sending his hidden blades into their brains. He rode their bodies down to the ground and rolled up between two more which he stabbed through their ugly, snarling faces. "Why aren't they running he asked as three more fell to Beth's arrows.

"There must be an overlord near by," Beth said, "If so we will probably see him soon."

As if on cue a much bigger fallen with a huge ax smashed his way into the clearing where they had the camp set up. Ezio sneered at the big demon before burying a throwing knife in its chest where the heart should be. Instead of dying however, the demon roared and charged him with a vicious swing of its ax. Ezio dodged around the blow and drew his sword, he was obviously going to need something a little deeper than a knife to kill this creature. A fallen that jumped at him from his left was disintegrated in mid leap by another of Lil's spells, which was good because Ezio had to focus on the monster in front of him. He scanned the overlord for any weaknesses but only saw one, its neck which was a good four feet above his head.

As the massive ax came down at him Ezio got an idea. He dodged towards an old thick tree, leading the demon over towards it. The ax came across at him, he jumped and the thump of the ax getting stuck in the trunk was almost musical. Ezio landed on the weapon and dashed up the demon's arm, drawing his sword across its neck and face as he ran right off its back. He turned around to see the demon collapse to the ground, then he was knocked to the ground by one of the smaller fallen which promptly got a bolt between its eyes and fell on top of him. Ezio pushed the dead demon off and got to his feet.

"Well, that was close," Ezio commented.

"Yeah, Nice touch with the tree," Lil added, "We need to get out of this forest."

"Tristram is near here," Beth said, "Should we go there, I hear it has been relatively quite there since Diablo was defeated."

"Diablo," Ezio asked, "Who is that?"

"He is, or rather was, the prime evil of terror," Lil answered, "However since his defeat at the hands of the Champions he and his brothers have disappeared."

"So the demon leaders are gone," Ezio said, "Then why are the demons still here?"

"That's what we want to find out," Lil said, "I thought I heard that Deckard Cain has been seen near the new town. He was with the Champions maybe he has some information on the matter."

"Sister, Cain has been presumed dead for twenty five years," Beth said, "After he helped in the primes' defeat he just vanished."

"What do you think happened to him," Ezio asked as he stirred the fire that they had once again settled down around.

"Some say he was killed by demons in retaliation for their masters' deaths, some say he remained in the Pandemonium fortress at the gates of hell to watch for more demons, others say that Tyreal himself took Cain away from this world and that he has been presumed dead because he was out helping the Arch-Angle fight back the demonic forces. I happen to believe the latter, considering that rumors of his return started almost twenty years ago, only five after he disappeared."

"Demons and angles are common here then," Ezio assumed.

"Demons yes, angles... sadly since Tyreal destroyed the world stone thirty years ago angles have stopped visiting Sanctuary," Beth said.

"Ok that leaves me with more questions than answers but, it sounds like this Cain is the best bet I have of getting back. If he knows an angle then that may be my only path back home," Ezio said, "How far to Tristram?"

"If we leave at first light we should arrive by the afternoon," Beth said.

"Ah good," Ezio said, "Only one problem left then, I have only been up for three hours. On my world it is morning."

"Ha, well I guess you can take first watch then, wake one of us when the moon is a third of the way across the sky," Beth said as she headed for her tent, "And this way you don't have to share a tent with one of us."

"That could be awkward," Ezio agreed as he got up to patrol the camp, Lil laughed as she too retired to her tent.

"Wake me fist Beth took the late watch last night," Lil said as she disappeared into her tent.

With that Ezio settled into a patrol Around the camp, between the tents, stoke the fire, around the camp again. When the moon was a third of the way up, he felt as if it was early afternoon so he guessed about six hours had gone by so he went over to wake Lilith.

"Lilith," Ezio said from the tent entrance. No response. "Lilith," He hissed into the tent, still nothing. He debated for a few minutes about whether to let the woman sleep, but he also decided that if he was going to be traveling most of tomorrow he needed some rest. With a sigh he ducked inside the tent. "Lili-" He stopped mid sentence and ducked back out with a blush coloring his face. Lilith apparently liked to sleep clothing free. Ezio slapped himself for not thinking, if dainty Italian nobility slept in only very light gowns what did he think these hardened, fighting, twins would sleep in their armor. After a moment of contemplation he realized that he actually did expect to find Lil in her robes and asleep on a cot of some sort not naked and sleeping on a mat with her staff in hand.

Looking around he spotted a lose pebble near the fire. He picked it up and judged the distance to Lil's tent and the staff inside it. With a few adjustments to his aim to make up for where he remembered the staff being and to compensate for the tent flap he threw the rock, a thunk followed by a 'what in the hells?' told him his aim had been true. He walked over towards Lil's tent deciding to act innocent and play the part of just going over to wake her up.

"Lilith," he hissed from the tent flap again, "You up?"

"You know damn well I'm up," came the sharp reply a moment before Lil, sill naked, burst out of her tent with a fist ready to hit him. Her more lady like parts hit him first however, since she wasn't expecting him to be as close to the tent as he was and the two were knocked to the ground, with Lil on top. Ezio was mortified and Lilith was mad, but Bethany had also been awoken by the disturbance they were making and her voice cut off the beating that Ezio feared he was about to receive at the hands of this wizard.

"Ugh, sis, if you want to romp with the dashing, strong, assassin do it your tent," Beth said as she looked out from her tent then went back inside.

Ezio was trying his darnedest to keep his eyes on Lil's face and so picked up on the smile that the woman couldn't help from crossing her face. Mentally Ezio breathed a sigh of relief as Lilith got up and dusted herself off. "Next time," She said, "Just tap me."

"Well I didn't want to..., with you naked and all...," Ezio said.

"An honorable assassin," Lil remarked as she ducked back into her tent, "Well you see how well that plan of yours with the rock worked. I guess I should have warned you, I didn't really think about you being a man."

"And I didn't think about how a lady who has been fighting all her life would react to what must have sounded like an attack," Ezio conceded, "You aren't bothered that I saw... you?"

"Modesty was something that was taken from both of us when the demons rapped us," Lil said as she came back out from her tent, this time with her robes on, much to Ezio's relief. "Still its strange to think that someone who murders people in their beds would care much for modesty."

"I do not murder people in their beds," Ezio said, "I am an assassin because my enemies the templars, forced me out of my home, killed my father and brothers, assaulted my mother and sister, and are still trying to kill me. I take them down fair and square just to make my point."

"Ah I see," Lil replied, "... Why don't you stay up through my watch so I can answer some of the questions you must have."

Ezio thought about it for a moment, but decided that the situation couldn't get any more awkward and agreed. He spent the rest next six hours and the following trip to Tristram learning about Sanctuary, its inhabitants, magic, and any thing else that he was interested in. By the time they arrived at the gate he had a good idea of what he had gotten into by arriving in this Sanctuary. The militia at the gate nodded as the three passed into the town, heading for the inn.

"Inn's always a good place to pick up rumors," Ezio remarked.

"Another similarity," Beth added, "First chicken, now inns."

Ezio chuckled as they entered the inn. It was a homey establishment, several oak tables lined the way to the bar, a fire was smoldering in the fireplace, the walls were a black maple and the stone floor was warm to walk on. A young woman with orange hair was behind the bar, the innkeeper obviously.

"I'll go arrange for rooms," Beth said, "You two love birds are getting your own."

Lil and Ezio both rolled their eyes, Bethany had been joking about their encounter last night all day. Ezio still felt embarrassed by the event, Lilith found it somewhat amusing, but Bethany found the thought of them together hilarious and had used every opportunity to enjoy his discomfort with the situation.

"Hey you two come here," Beth called from the bar, "Drawing their and the other five patron's attention.

"For one who stalks the shadows she isn't very discreet," Ezio said as they joined her at the bar.

"You three are going to go to the old ruins to look for Deckard Cain," The fiery haired barkeep asked. Ezio noticed her facial features immediately due to his years of training in such things. She had a young but strong face, the result of years of a hard life that preceded her current job. She wore a red tunic and brown pants. He noticed also that her hair was actually brown but the fire light glistened off of it and made it look orange. Here eyes were also brown.

"If that is where you think he is," Lilith said, "then yes."

"Well I can give you free room and board," the barkeeper said, "But the condition is you take me with you."

"What why," Ezio asked?

"Whats with the guy in white," she replied, "I'm Leah, Deckard Cain may be the only family I have left. If there is a chance he is in those ruins or even the old cathedral I'm going to take it."

"Then why haven't you," Beth asked?

"Because while the town here seems quite, the old ruins have been invaded by monsters, undead, demons, and who knows what else. The cathedral is even worse and while I may be good with a bow, I'll need back up to get through those ruins," Leah said.

"I didn't know that there was trouble in these parts," Lilith said surprised, "Well if true then we will help you clear it, right sis?"

"Sure thing," Beth agreed.

"Why not," Ezio added just to make sure he wasn't left out.

"Oh sorry," Z Lil said, "I'm so used to just having Beth around."

"Z," Ezio asked?

"Well its easier to say than Ee-Ze-O," Lilith clarified.

Ezio sighed but nodded his acceptance of the nickname, "Just don't use it too much."

"Sure thing Z," Beth teased.

"You three aren't married are you," Leah asked.

"What no," Ezio hastily replied, "I'm new to Sanctuary and these two are twins."

"New to... Never mind," Leah said, "Let me get you rooms for tonight and in the morning we can head to the ruins."

"Don't you want to go now," Beth asked.

"Of course I do," Leah said, "But those monsters get stronger in the dark... I... I wouldn't be able to help Cain if I died to those things."

"Well we too get stronger in the dark," Beth replied as she threw her hood on to show Leah her glowing eyes, "With the four of us the demons will be the hunted tonight."

"You, your a hunter aren't you," Leah concluded, "and a wizard? What then are you, I am not familiar with any order that wears white cloaks."

"I'm... my own order," Ezio replied, "My skills are quite useful."

Leah looked at them for a second before ducking down under the bar and pulling out a massive crossbow that was mounted on a tripod and two quivers of bolts. "Well then lets not waste any time my uncle needs not spend another night in the ruins."

"You use that thing," Beth gawked, "Its as big as you are, it that's an amazing weapon."

"You don't think I made enough money to open this inn by sitting around in town did you," Leah replied with a smile. "Cullen the hold the bar down, don't let your guards drink to much you know how they get."

"Sure thing Leah," one of the patrons, a man in a blue uniform with a sharp hawk like face replied as he got up and walked behind the bar, "Usual discount for everyone then?"

"Twice," Leah replied, "and if I return with Cain I'll make the original discount permanent."

That was greeted with a "Hooah" by the patrons as Leah led the three out of her inn. As they left the town the guards at the gate gave small salutes to Leah as she passed. "Helped train most them," Leah said to the unasked question. As they continued on down the path Ezio saw nothing unusual, just a few empty farmhouses, the residences most likely back in town enjoying the discount that Leah gave them. As they neared the church grave yard however things got creepy. There was a low lying mist that veiled the area even on this warm, summer, night. Add to that the smell of corpses and the squishing sounds that came from the mist and Ezio began to see why Leah wanted them to go with her.

"Ok I hear the undead," Beth said as she knocked an arrow, "This fog is making it hard to spot them though."

"Hey Ezio," Leah said as she planted her tripod in the ground and mounted the crossbow on it then loaded the quivers into the sides, "Why don't you go in there and bring the zombies out to us."

"What if I get bit," Ezio asked, "Is it a one bit and done type deal?"

"No you have to be dead to become a zombie," Lil said, "So if you get bit then die you'll be all 'brains.'"

"Oh that's much better," Ezio said as he drew his sword and started forward into the mist. It didn't take long before the shuffling of feet started heading his direction. Through the mist he made out the shapes of people, or what used to be people before whatever foul curse brought them back to prey on their friends and family. As he turned to bring the creatures back towards the ambush a beam of white light cut through the fog and incinerated the monsters. The beam came from a large diamond that was on the head of a staff which an elderly looking man, about sixty or so, was holding.

The man wore a dark gray cloak with a gray and gold shirt and gray trousers. His eyes were deep and old with the wisdom of a life time held in their pools of deep brown. His large protruding nose, crinkled mouth, white hair, mustache and beard spoke of the many travels this man had seen.

"What are you doing out here," The old man rasped, "The creatures make it dangerous for those without the power or skill to fend them off."

"We're looking for someone," Ezio started then it dawned on him, "Wait your not Deckard Cain are you?"

"Why yes my boy," Cain replied, "But how did you know of me I have only just gotten back from... well never mind that. There must be some reason you've come to me."

"Uncle," Leah exclaimed as she ran past Ezio to embrace the elder man.

"Why my dear Leah," Cain said, "What happened to you girl, last I saw you were but a little girl."

"Its a long story," Leah replied, "Come on lets get back to the inn where we can talk, Lilith and Bethany are waiting back at the road."

"Cain I have to ask," Ezio said as they started walking, "Do you know of a way to contact Tyreal?"

"The Arch-Angle of Justice," Cain said, "It would depend on why you need him."

"To get home," Ezio said, "I'm not from..."

"Not from Sanctuary," Cain Finished with a smile, "Yes I could tell be your clothing, Earth is it not."

"How did," Ezio stammered, "Do you know a way for me to get back?"

"I know of one who can take you back but whether he will come back by or not will depend on you," Cain said, "If you were teleported here then Kalathanon and his Dragon Company will soon follow you. He has the resources to take you back home."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Hey We Know Those Guys

Character Qui-gon Jin

"I really think that we should have stayed with Kalathanon," Qui-gon was saying to Gandalf as the two walked through the library of Gondor.

"Perhaps," the wizard muttered as he pulled out another scroll from the shelf, "But then we would not have arrive back in here in time to pin Morgoth down, and since your and Starkiller's redirection of those lasers wiped Void and Despair from creation and with Azmodan being held off by Vern and his crew, we were needed here."

"Fair enough," Qui-gon agreed, "But if what Storm told us is true..."

"Why do you think I am looking for those records," Gandalf replied, "Now if you could check that shelf."

Character Sparta

With a heave the last block of Hadriel's new library was locked into place. Sparta sighed and stretched out his back before looking over to Alexandria who was just as happy to be finished with the library as he was.

"Well that didn't take as long as I had feared," Hadriel said as the angelic lore keeper walked up behind them, "I am glad that Spyro let you two come with me."

"Speaking of our son," Alexandria said, "We should probably contact him and let them know we are finished here."

"Yeah," Flyn added, "As nice as it is here, I do like tagging along with my bro's in Bad Co."

"Indeed it has been almost two years since you three volunteered to help me in this endeavor," Hadriel said, "Come let us see about getting back with DC, I'm sure they have gotten into more trouble by now."

"I wonder if K, C, James, Carter, Xavier, Blitz and Storm have rejoined them yet," Sparta commented, "Or if they are still running that college back on Earth."

"Well dear only one way to find out," Alexandria replied, "Lets go call them."

Character Captain John (Soap) Mac Tavish

Soap and Ghost were hanging down from the top of the stage on repelling lines while playing the guitar piece to "I Love Rock and Roll" by Jett, while Anjali and Katarina were wrapping up with the song and Price and Lucas were on the drums and Reinhardt was on the keyboard. As they hit the last chord he and Ghost zipped the rest of the way down to the stage were they and the others bowed and waved to their Russian audience. Soap was looking for someone in the crowd, a man who was going to be their contact for buying the hydrogen to clear the radiation from the bomb sites, Soap didn't see him.

After their bows Legion 141 exited the stage, heading back inside the structure's building. Inside standing off in a corner was a tall, sturdy, bald man with tan skin, sharp, blue eyes, a rounded nose, and tight lips. He wore a black, three piece suit and was carrying a briefcase. As 141 walked in the man approached them.

"Which one is Soap," The man inquired in an Egyptian accent as they all got into the room.

"I am," Soap said, "You Imhotep?"

"Yes," Imhotep replied as he nodded his head, "I assume you know why I am here?"

"Your the insurance man for the Russian Industrial Nuclear Plant," Reinhardt said, "Here to make sure we have the proper coverage to purchase large amounts of hydrogen."

"Indeed," Imhotep confirmed then motioning to the table, "Shall we begin?"

Soap accompanied the man over to the table where Imhotep began spreading out papers and forms, from his brief case, for them to go over. The next two hours were spent combing through the fine details of what sort of coverage 'The Echoes' needed to have in order to purchase hydrogen in bulk for recreational uses, like their flame cannons. After they had come to the end of the files, Imhotep seemed ready to pass them on to his organization's sales department.

"Let me just call this in," the Egyptian said as he got up and took a cell phone out of his pocket, "It will be good to have such a wealthy entity as your selves in arrangement with RINP."

Soap watched Imhotep make the call, watched as the expression on the insurance man's face grew darker before he hissed something in Russian to whoever was on the other line, watched as the tenseness abated and Imhotep hung up the phone.

"Well are we good?" Soap asked.

"Indeed, my associates would very much like begin transactions within the week," Imhotep said. He looked like he was about to say something else when an explosion outside cut him off. Price and Lucas were in the room as soon as they heard the explosion with the rest following. Ghost tossed Soap an AK 47 as they headed for the door to see what the explosion was about. Imhotep followed them. "What is a band doing with this kind of fire power," he asked as they sunk a look out the door.

"Better to be prepared when going to dangerous places than not," Katarina replied, "Especially when women are involved."

Soap peered through the smoke left over from the explosion. The crowd had dispersed an hour ago, so when he saw the distorted shapes of about twenty people making their way towards them through the fog he decided that their best option was to hide and see what they were up to.

"Get behind something," Soap whispered, "We have twenty or so guys heading this way and I don't think we want them to find us, you to Imhotep."

The Egyptian nodded his understanding and climbed up into the rafters,Ghost and Anjali hid behind some boxes in the corner of the room, Lucas, Reindhardt and Katarina went back into the other room to hid, Price and Soap headed for the back of the room to hid in the flame cannons. Outside he could hear someone giving orders in Russian, then he heard the footfalls of men walking on the concrete floor of the building. More Russian conversation, then a thump and a whoosh. Soap peeked out of the cannon.

He saw the table that he and Imhotep had been sitting at was on fire, along with the documents proving that they could buy the hydrogen they needed. He looked up to see Imhotep who was furiously glaring at the Russian men in black suits who were now planting explosives on the building. There were ten in the room, six were planting the explosives, one was radioing someone else, two were watching the table burn and one... one was headed for the door where the rest of the Legion was hiding. Soap glanced over to the other cannon where he saw the top of Price's eyes just over the rim. Soap flicked his eyes towards the man going towards the door and Price nodded as the tip of his silencer on his M1911 rose just above the rim.

Soap readied his AK and waited as the mercenary opened the door and went inside then just as quickly flew back out as electricity arced off of him, Rehindheart's doing. The men all headed for the room when their buddy got launched and five more came in to watch the room where Price, Ghost, Anjali, Imhotep and Soap were hiding. Price dropped the last man in then the man just outside the door, drawing in the last four men. One of the men wore a patch on his shoulder that read RINP. That was enough for Imhotep apparently because the stout man dropped from the rafters and crushed two of the attackers into the floor as he landed and then lifted the leader with the RINP patch into the air. Price dropped two more of them men and a fire ball from Anjali killed the other three. Simultaneous gun fire and the ring of steel from the other room indicated that the others had taken care of their batch as well.

"You traitor," Imhotep hissed at the man he was holding in the air, "You thought to kill me? Now it is you and your organization that will pay!" With that he threw the man across the room, breaking the man's neck with a wet crunch as the body hit the far wall.

Soap and Price had gotten out of the cannons as the body hit the floor. "What was that all about," Price said, "I thought we were going to be working with you guys?"

"It would seem that RINP would rather seem me dead than their products in the hands of a special forces team," Imhotep replied as he rounded on them, "Now you have caused me a great deal of inconvenience, so talk fast and I wont kill you all as well."

Soap didn't let another word come out of Imhotep's mouth before pinning him against the back wall with a dagger against the man's throat. "I wouldn't try it demon," Soap said, "I'm stronger than you."

"I am no demon," Imhotep replied, "and you are no man."

"True enough," Katarina said as the other three entered the room, "But he is a demon hunter so whatever power lets you throw people across rooms strengthens him as well."

Imhotep just looked at Soap, not seeming to care that a dagger was against his neck. They glared at each other for a few seconds during which Soap almost thought he felt something try to pick him up but then Imhotep nodded his head and Soap let him off the wall.

"It seems we both have reason to want the destruction of the RINP," Ghost said, "We need their hydrogen, and you I assume want revenge."

"Indeed," Imhotep replied, "and since my powers don't seem to work on you, I can assume that the powers behind the RINP will also be unable to affect you."

"What powers," Soap asked, "Is there someone forcing you to work for the RINP?"

"Not now," Imhotep said, "I understand you have rooms at a hotel the 'Kamnh' is it not?"

"Yeah Clarence is a friend of ours," Price said, "Come on we need to get back there and make sure he is all right, you can fill us in about your, 'powers' as we go."

Soap, Reinhardt, Price and Imhotep got into one of the Firebirds while Anjali, Ghost, Lucas and Katarina got into the other one.

"So what powers allow someone to throw a hundred and fifty pound man like he is a rag doll," Soap asked Imhotep as Price led the convoy out from the stage and towards the Kamnh.

"I am Imhotep, High priest to Seti I, cursed to immortal agony after killing him and stealing his bride," Imhotep replied, "I was set free many years ago by a couple who are now dead and I received all the powers of undeath when I was fully restored to the presence you see me in now. My powers themselves involve control over the elements, some telekinesis, super strength and immunity to harm."

"Huh you sound like a regular in DC," Soap said, "well glad to have you along, sorry that your company tried to back stab you we know how that feels."

"Your used to people like me," Imhotep scoffed, "I doubt that."

"Telekinesis you say," Price said from the driver's seat, "Get ready to use those then we got more of your 'friends' ahead."

Four black trucks with gun turrets on their beds pulled out into the road ahead of them blocking the path. Soap leaned out the window and shot at the men on the turrets but had to duck back inside as a rocket blew up against the building to his right. Then the trucks were lifted off the ground and smashed into each other then flung back down the road that they had entered from just as Price drove through where the roadblock had been followed by Ghost and crew in the other supped up Firebird.

"Nice throw," Price called back to Imhotep, "Now lets see about what to do with this gas business."

"If we plan on using force then now would be the best time to strike," Soap said, "Price take us to the plant, Reinhardt radio the others to tell them the change of plan, tell Katarina to call Clarence and warn him of the danger, I'll call Jack."

"Who is Jack," Imhotep asked.

"Oh just the President of the United States," Price replied, "Don't worry about him to much."

Soap rolled his eyes as he sent out the call from the his laptop. Jack picked up on the other line with a "What now?"

"Jack plan B," Soap said, "We are going to take the gas, negotiations have been undermined."

"Undermined? Isn't that the representative of the RINP," Jack asked.

"Was," Imhotep replied, "Until they tried to have me killed for talking with your spies."

"You recruited him," Jack stated, "Look just try not to make this an international incident." With that Jack logged off. Imhotep just looked at Soap.

"Well that sounded like it went well," Reinhardt remarked as they turned onto the freeway.

Character Anjali

"We are going to do what," Anjali asked Ghost as he told them what Soap's new plan was, "Uhh... He is worse than K when it comes to sticking to a plan."

"I know," Katarina remarked as she called Clarence, "At least K doesn't change the plan after telling us what it is."

"So I take it the trucks getting flung about back there was our new friend's doing," Lucas said.

"That would make sense," Ghost replied as he speed up to keep pace with Price, "Unless anyone here suddenly developed a new super power."

"Speaking of powers," Anjali said, "At this plant I will have to keep mine toned down, we would not want to explode the very hydrogen we are trying to get."

"You mean steal," Katarina said, "There is no use in denying it."

Anjali was about to refute that statement when a bomb blew up outside the car throwing them off the road and into a snow drift. Ghost activated the rearward facing rocket tubes and fired them at the planes that had dropped the bombs on both theirs and Price's car. Two smoldering aircraft plummeting to the ground gave him a smile, until he tried to back the car out of the snowbank. The all-stick tires were doing their job to well, collecting a layer of snow and ice on the wheels so that they could not move the car. Price and his team were having the same problem.

"Come on," Anjali said as she opened her door, "The plant is not far from here we can walk and the cars will serve as a distraction to keep the RINP's attention away from their home base."

"Yeah until they see out tracks," Ghost stated.

"What tracks," Anjali asked as she melted the snow so that there was a layer of ice between them and the soft snow.

"That might work," Lucas said as he tested the strength of the ice, "And it wont seem out of place here in this frozen land."

Ghost clapped her on the shoulder as they went over to meet with Soap who was waving them over to his position.

"Huh, no tracks," Soap commented as they arrived, "That will be useful. Ok our new friend can get us past the level one and two security checkpoints but from there on we will have to get creative. Jack says we can't do anything that will cause Russia to go to war with the U.S. and I agree. However that means that only two other people can go with Imhotep into the building. I think that you and Ghost should go. You because of your resistance to radiation and Ghost because I trained him well and his face is not known to the guards there.

"You want me to leave me mask then," Ghost remarked as he pulled the covering off his head and gave it to Soap, "Just take care of it for me."

"Will do now we need to follow Imhotep he knows his way to the plant better than any of us," Soap replied as he got up and led them over to the Egyptian.

Anjali had only seen Ghost's uncovered face once before when he showed her his burns after she had gotten shot. Since then they had felt a companionship with each other, a relationship built off of fire. She was fire, he had been molded by fire, and looking at his craggy, rutted face, Anjali felt like she had know Ghost all her life. Ghost caught her watching him and beckoned her over as they followed Imhotep.

"Staring is considered rude you know," He said.

"Unless one is looking at a work of art," Anjali replied, "Your burns, they are not the random indiscriminate charring that a normal fire would produce, they are patterned like..." She reached a hand out and ran it along his cheek. "Like you were being caressed," She finished. "It was no mistake that you survived that fire what happened to you?"

"Remember when you got shot," he replied, "Remember how lucid you were?"

"Yes but I could still make out your voice, and shoot that merc that tried to kill you," Anjali replied now wondering where Ghost was heading with this conversation.

"Well I was about as lucid as that after I had been shot, same spot as you by the way, and then dumped into this rut along with my partner Roach, he didn't make it. Anyways next thing I know is I'm covered with gasoline and on fire, that's when I heard the voice," Ghost said, "It was female that much was evident, and I remember something about a life alone is not worth the living. Then I felt as if I was being wrapped in a blanket, or maybe it was a hug, I could hardly breath at the time and didn't stay concise for much longer but I did feel something against the sides of my face. I see now that they were hands, your hands."

"What, but how its not like..." Anjali started then it dawned on her with K and DC she could travel in time, it was possible that she had been the one who saved Ghost. "Why me?"

Ghost took her hand and placed it against his scarred face, her fingers lined up perfectly with the scars that ran down his cheeks and with the impressions around his mouth and chin. She just stood there staring at him.

"Hey what are you two doing," Katarina called from over a snowbank that the rest of the group had climbed over.

"Kat come here and look at this," Anjali called still holding her hands to Ghost's face in astonishment.

"What his face is burnt so what," Katarina said as she walked over to them, "Oh now that is a little disconcerting, your hands match his burns perfectly."

"That's because she made them," Ghost said, "I see now that it was Anjali who saved me from the fire."

"She did what," Price asked as he slid down the hill to join them, "How?"

"Think about it," Anjali said, "How many people do we know who can travel through time?"

"I think I see your point," Price muttered, "Still we can save the details for another day, right now we need to get you two and Imhotep into the nuclear plant, so come on."

Price and Katarina headed back over the hill, Anjali removed her hands from Ghost's face, Ghost nodded towards the top of the hill and started for it. Anjali, still stunned about her roll in his survival, shook off the thoughts that their encounter had brought up and ran to catch up to him. As they crested the snowy hill, the sight of the plant loomed in front of them. It was large with three cooling towers to keep the reactor cool. A tall barbed wire fence protected the outside from unwanted intruders, behind that were the various buildings of the plant each with its own security checkpoint at the entrance.

"Now my pass will get us through the barbed wire and into the main areas of the buildings," Imhotep said, "After we get inside we will have to 'find' a higher level pass-card to get into the hydrogen store rooms."

"Ok who generally has these keys on them," Ghost asked?

"The three security chiefs will have keys as will the ten plant overseers," Imhotep replied, "Lets hope we can take one from an overseer and not a chief."

"Longer reporting times," Anjali asked?

"Exactly," The Egyptian said, "Now follow me and let me do the talking."

They left the other five in the shadow of the snowbank and headed around to the security gate where Imhotep showed the guards his pass-card and was greeted with a cheery "Hey bronzy whats new?" By the guard who checked his card then let them through. Imhotep led them past several long gray warehouse buildings before angling towards one of the cooling towers.

"Figures that they would keep the hydrogen in the towers," Ghost said.

"Assuming that they haven't moved it due to our recent involvement with a certain spec-ops group," Imhotep replied, "Now keep quiet while I get us inside."

The guard to the cooling tower was not as pleasant to deal with as the one at the gate and he gave Imhotep a hard time about bringing 'visitors' into the cooling towers, but still let them pass without calling them into security. Imhotep nodded his thanks to the guard as they passed through to the inside. The tower was dark inside compared with the brightness of the sun on the snow outside and it took Anjali's eyes a few seconds to adjust for the lack of light. The concrete structure was claustrophobic with its dim light and uniform color. Anjali closed her eyes until the feeling of the building closing in on her dissipated before the three made their way deeper into the tower.

"Ok so how are we going to get the hydrogen out," Anjali asked.

"We won't," Imhotep said, "We let the RINP workers carry it out for us by shutting down the towers."

"Won't that cause the reactor to meltdown," Ghost said.

"That's the point I think," Anjali replied as they walked through the halls looking for someone they could lift a level three pass-card from, "The Hydrogen reacts with the radiation at a certain temperature and stabilizes it. We get them to bring the hydrogen out then we grab it."

"But that still leaves us with a melting down reactor," Ghost observed. A statement to which neither Anjali nor Imhotep had a response.

"Here comes one of the overseers," Imhotep said, "I'll distract him while one of you get his key."

"I'll get it," Anjali said as she and Ghost broke off from Imhotep to go around the overseer who Imhotep flagged down to talk about this quarters production numbers. Anjali slipped her hand into the occupied overseer's pocket and fished out his wallet, from that she took the key-card then slipped the wallet back into the man's pocket just as he and Imhotep were wrapping up their conversation.

"Did you get it," Imhotep whispered after the overseer had walked on down the hall and they had returned to heading for the center of the tower. Anjali held out the card in response and Imhotep took it. "Good now we can start shutting down the cooling towers."

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here but wouldn't that mean we are going to be stuck inside the facility and the hydrogen will be out side the facility," Ghost asked.

"Leave our escape to me," Imhotep said as he casually swiped the card across a scanner and opened the door that led to the underground section of the plant.

They followed the stairs down into what opened out into a vast tunnel network, designed for large transports and very heavy elements. The air in the dim tunnels felt odd to Anjali, like it was charged somehow. She had the oddest feeling that she should recognize the strangeness to the air but couldn't quite place it. As Imhotep led them further in she didn't have time to dwell on the air quality down in these tunnels because soon after they got moving an alarm sounded throughout the complex.

"Well I guess they got the report about me being rouge now," Imhotep remarked as he unconcernedly walked over to a door in the wall of the tunnel, "In here is the first reactor core, we need to destabilize it. As soon as we do however, my 'friends' will know right were we are." The man gave a cruel smile as the door busted inward resulting in several small explosions and more alarms blaring through the tunnels. "Shall we move on then?"

"Let's," Anjali replied as she felt the radiation start to spill out from the room, "Do you think they will have guards at the next two housings?"

"Oh yes," Imhotep replied, "you two can deal with them, I will take care of the cores."

"Great," Ghost muttered, "and all I could sneak in was my pistol, not even silenced."

"We may need more than that," Anjali said as she pointed down the tunnel, "Look."

Strolling down the tunnel was the flaming visage of Moroni, the demon seemed not to notice them however as he went right past them and straight for the housing for the core that they had just opened up.

"What in hell is that," Imhotep asked.

"Moroni and he isn't in Hell anymore," Ghost stated, "Come on we need to get to that hydrogen before he feeds off the radiation enough to become corporeal."

They headed down the tunnels but soon noticed that Imhotep was still standing and watching Moroni.

"Come on," Anjali called, "Hurry you must show us where the hydrogen is."

"Can you not hear him," Imhotep asked as he turned to face them, "He is calling for help."

"Yeah help to destroy the world now come on," Anjali retorted as she grabbed Imhotep's arm and drug him down the tunnel. Imhotep easily shook her off of him though.

"No he wants our help," Imhotep insisted, "I don't know why you can't hear him but he is calling out for his friend Kalathanon. He says that there is something he must tell this K. Other than that he is just ranting about a dome of some kind."

Anjali and Ghost looked at each other, Anjali flashed her eyes and Ghost shrugged. "Well get a hold on him and bring him with us," Anjali said, "We need to get out of here before this place goes boom."

Imhotep nodded and grabbed Moroni's arm and led the rambling being towards the exit. "I guess we don't need that hydrogen then," he said as he caught up with her and Ghost.

"If we get the chance to grab it then we should," Ghost replied, "But otherwise lets go I don't like the sound this place is making."

The plant had started to creak and moan and Anjali could feel radiation leaking from the cores of the reactors. Imhotep took the lead, hefting the still smoldering Moroni onto his shoulder with no ill effect as the deranged general continued to whisper nonsense into the air. They wound through a different set of hallways than the ones they used on the way in but the bleak concrete construction still pressed in on Anjali like a vice closing around them. An explosion behind them caused them to pick up their already quick pace and soon the four of them practically dived out into the snow covered ground outside the plant.

Ghost was up and moving first and waving for them to do the same. Following his pointing hand Anjali saw the rest of their group driving up in trucks, trucks filled with the hydrogen they needed. As they got into the back of one of the trucks, Ghost banged on the cab and yelled for Lucas, who was driving, to get them out of there. The truck pulled away and got in line with the other three trucks and their two Firebirds as they started away from the destabilizing complex.

"Were not going to make it," Ghost yelled at Lucas.

An "ahh" from Imhotep drew Anjali's attention as she saw him get knocked out of the truck by a spasm from Moroni who then sat bolt up right and said, "It's here." Then an explosion drew her attention to the plant but instead of a nuclear explosion she beheld something much more spectacular, a giant, floating, crystal, skull like, dome that had appeared where the plant used to be.

"Stop the trucks," She yelled as she jumped out of the bed to land next to Ghost who had had the same idea. Another poompf told them that Moroni had landed next to them, She turned expecting to see the hellish melted face that was the demon's calling card but instead found herself looking into one of the fairest faces she had ever seen.

Moroni, this renewed one, had golden hair that fell down to his waist, a rounded face free of scars or other other deformities, two blue orbs for eyes that were set above a demure nose and full, if tight, lips. He was arrayed in armor of pure platinum from his shoulders to his feet, no helmet and no sword or weapon that she could see.

"It's here the way back to Kalathanon," the Cherub said, "I thank you for trusting me on this, even considering my history. But then again it is not much different from our dear K's own history now is it?"

"Who the blarg is that," Price said as he walked over to them with the rest of Legion 141.

"That's Moroni," Lucas said, "I got a glimpse of him from the rear view mirror, but he didn't look anything like that."

"Ah yes, I had to divest the last of my previous form before taking this one," Moroni replied, "I will have to thank Cloak in person from deleting me from time, it sent me back to before the creation of this world when I was still good. Seems that something reignited that old spark in me and now I need to see K, Lucifer is moving faster than he realizes."

"And we should trust you why," Soap asked.

"Try to draw power from me 'Demon Hunter,'" Moroni replied.

Soap, after a moment of concentration cast a look of appraisal over the Cherub before nodding and saying, "Well I'll be you aren't a demon, least not one I can drain like before."

"I'm telling you he is not evil," Imhotep said.

"Lets call Jack and see what his reaction to this is," Katarina suggested, "I say if he is ok with Moroni joining up with us then I see no reason to pass up such a powerful ally."

"Hold up," Anjali said, "Moroni you said something about that dome, that it can take us to K. Just how big is it, it is hard to tell from down here."

"Big enough to hold an army in," Moroni said, "A very large army."

"And you said that K needs help," Anjali continued, "So why don't we gather an army and help him."

"That... sounds like a good idea," Jack said from the computer that Reinhardt was holding, "Don't worry about things here, with the necros we can keep a lid on the terrorists."

"Then we need to get into it," Price said, "How are we going to do that?"

"Allow us," Imhotep and Moroni said. Then the group, including the Firebirds lifted into the air and headed for the top of the dome.

Anjali found herself right beside Ghost as they gained altitude.

"Hey," he whispered to her, "You know I never thought there would be a woman for me, but here you are. I've got a gift for you if you'll accept it."

"Ghost right now may not be the best time," Anjali replied, "But I haven't refused you yet and apparently I save you life so you must be worth something."

Ghost flashed her a toothy grin before saying, "My real name is Simon Riley, If your ok with 'us' then I hope you start using it."

Anjali returned his smile and flared up into her fire form as they went into the dome from the hole in the top.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Old Enmities Forgotten

Character RuGaard

The smell of home was wonderfully refreshing, or it would have been if every whiff of air did not carry the smell of demon on it. He was surveying the walls of the town, no city-state, of Haven from the air as a black mass gathered on the horizon, the demons. The air was warm, a pleasant kind of semi-humid temperature that made the old copper dragon feel clean and young again. Nilrasha swooped past him as she delivered news to AuRel and Kalathanon about the condition of the outlying area. His own recon work concluded RuGaard followed his mate down to the opening into the caverns that honeycombed Haven's under-belly. Had he been told a hundred years ago that he would return from hiding to rule a newly formed empire and then go soaring through the stars and time with K and his Dragon Company, RuGaard would have had that person checked into a mental hospital.

"What news from the plains my love," RuGaard asked his mate as he landed beside her.

"Not good," The demons are trying to set up a forward post in the forest to the west of here, "Near your hatching cave if I am not mistaken."

His face saddened for a moment at the mention of his parents cave, the place where he had been outcast and then betrayed his family, but he shook off those thoughts his family was back, in one form of 'life' of another and they were as cohesive as if they had never had the fight on the egg shelf. Well with the exception of one. There was a red sibling that he and AuRon teamed up against before turning on each other, he didn't think of the red when Cynder and Zar's necromancy brought back the other dragons in his family.

"Something is troubling you dear, I can see it," Nilrasha stated.

"Just old memories that sometimes haunt me still," RuGaard replied as they entered the cave where K and AuRel, RuGaard's father were pouring over old maps with his sister Wistala, Hawk and Hightower.

"The demons are massed to the north and west but have not moved the bulk of their forces in," Hightower was saying, "I can only assume there is some reason for them to be waiting there or they are a distraction for a much more potent attack."

"Our scanners are only picking up the demons near here and the ones to the north-west," K said, "No they are devising something up there, probably siege weapons."

"The walls are not weak by any means," RuGaard added to the conversation as he and Nilrasha walked up to the table, "But they are not dwarf work so a good pounding will fell them."

"Add to that a forward camp of demons in the forested mountains to the west and we have ourselves quite a mess," Nilrasha said.

"The west," AuRel said, "That's near our cave, I think AuRon, yourself and I should go and 'welcome' these demons to our home."

RuGaard nodded, as bad as his brother was for interesting company the gray preferring to keep his thoughts to himself, AuRon was the best stalker they had. Then, almost as if on cue, AuRon and NooMauk walked into the room. RuGaard smiled as his brother got drafted by their father to go on the pest control raid then said. "I'm not thrilled about this either."

"Well at least I'll have you at my back instead of one of those magic using dragons," AuRon said, "While their magic is powerful they seem to have less physical strength due to it."

"You are correct," K said as he looked up from the maps. Their somewhat shadowy leader was in his black cloaked human form with only the fire of his green eyes showing from beneath the hooded visage that he wove for himself. "And while you could easily beat most of the Avalarian dragons in a match of physical strength, Spyro or Malafor could beat you like the disgusting trolls that roam the dark corners of your world."

"The trolls used to be much worse, before the... well it doesn't matter now," RuGaard said, "Well if we are going to go clear out the homestead then lets do it before dark, I want to be back in time for dinner."

Hawk laughed at that comment, the two of them being of like mind when it came to food, K rolled his eyes, and NooMauk walked over to them.

"Well if you want this done quickly then I'd best come along," the elder dragon skeleton said, "Besides I've always wanted to see where such a scamp like AuRon grew up in."

"Well then come along," AuRel said as he stretched his necrotic wings and then vaulted into the sky through the hole in the top of the cave. The others followed with RuGaard in the back behind AuRon, the gray's wings creating drafts that made his own flying easier, scale armor tended to weigh one down when flying. It took them an hour to get to the foothills of the mountains and another to find the demons' camp. It was just down the slope from the mouth of the cave RuGaard had hatched in, but it was missing a single important component, demons.

"Does anyone else sense a trap," NooMauk asked.

"Sure seems like one," AuRon hissed from the shadows where he was concealed, his skin changing colors as the light played over his gray hide to make him invisible.

"Then lets spring it," RuGaard stated as he walked into the clearing and called, "Demons hello?" He braced for an ambush but instead got the misty cloud of red energy that held his undead father together and a wall of dragon bones around him.

"I thought you had more sense than that," AuRel chided as he got off RuGaard, "But I still don't see any demons so maybe you instincts are better attuned than mine."

RuGaard accepted the comment with a nod as they surveyed the clearing. Demons had definitely been here and recently. There were felled trees that had been stacked up for future use and a few tent-like constructions along with weapons and armor suited for the disfigured monstrosity that had set up the camp. Then there were the foot prints. Most were demon prints but there was one set that stood out to RuGaard and he called the others over. There in the midst of the camp were the tell-tell signs of dragon claws, but only claws no other print marks were visible and he didn't smell dragon either.

"Those are definitely dragon claws," RuGaard said, "But how?"

"I think I know," AuRel said as he placed a paw down next to the tracks. When he raised the paw a larger set of similar prints was resting beside the first one, "Its another undead."

"Ok but who's side is it on," RuGaard asked, "If it killed these demons then maybe it would join up with us."

"I do have a name," a deep rolling voice called out in thick but fluent drakine, the native language of the dragons on RuGaard's planet. Then a pool of blood began to seep out from the ground and started to coalesce. Slowly a dragon drew itself out of its hiding place underground and rolled its wings about as it looked them over. This dragon was different from AuRel, Irene, or Zara, who all had a loose mist that held their bones together. No this dragon had a thick, sticky mist that was focused on guiding the blood as it flowed through the air. The blood finished forming the shape of the dragon and a few bones were now visible, the six horns were made of bone as was the spike on the tail and the claws.

"It's a necromancer," AuRon said as he backed up.

"Again with the it," the dragon said, "I do have a name, right father?"

RuGaard, AuRon and AuRel all jumped back at that statement. This dragon before them was none other than the red that had died in the fight for championship at their birth.

AuRel recovered first, "Well I don't really have anything off the top of my head. You are a self made dragon from the look of you what do you want to be called my son."

RuGaard inwardly grinned at the master stroke his father had just deployed. By giving the red the choice of a name he conceded any control that the red might have reservations about but by calling him a son also bound the undead dragon to them as family. RuGaard now just hoped that their undead brother would not try and take revenge for his premature death.

"Hmm... Name myself. An interesting concept, maybe Cracker-Jack. No! That sounded better in my head, ah I know Ace," The red or Ace now replied. "So your my father, another like me, you two are my brothers but are still alive, I was sure the gray would kill you copper after I took your leg... wait how did you heal your leg?"

"It's a long story little one," NooMauk said, "But come we have tarried here to long as it is, the demons come."

"Not while I'm here they wont," Ace replied as the corpses of the demons that used to inhabit the camp tromped out into the clearing. "You all keep your 'living' ilk out. Feast on their flesh and drink their blood."

The demons gathered up their weapons and armor at Ace's command and then took up positions in the clearing like they were just 'normal' demons. A nasty ambush for any other demon to fall into.

"Now, I'd very much like to meet whoever is responsible for your healing," Ace said, "Oh and close your jaws it is unbecoming of you."

"Where did you learn to speak, or use those powers of yours," RuGaard asked.

"Oh that, yes I suppose it must seem odd for me to be able to talk with you, indeed I was not around to learn to speak from anyone," Ace said, "Fortunately I met this real nice dragonelle during my time in the spirit world, Zora her name." Ace tilted his head as though listening to something then continued, "Actually she says she knows several of the dragons you travel with. Shall we continue this conversation in flight?"

AuRon took off first, followed by NooMauk then AuRel, Ace and then RuGaard. He drew up alongside Ace who nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"So that's it then," RuGaard asked, "No revenge or anything for us killing you?"

"What? Revenge? No." scoffed Ace, "To be fair I attacked you first anyway, if there is anyone who I would take vengeance on it would be AuRon, but I can't bring myself to be mad at him. That strike with the egg tooth was inspired."

"Your something else brother," RuGaard commented, "I was mad at him for years for not letting me back on the shelf. It never dawned on me that I could have ended up dead."

Ace laughed at that drawing the rest into the conversation which kept up until they landed back inside the underground command center.

Character Kalathanon

"So your the forth sibling of AuRel's clan," K said as he surveyed Ace. "You, like your sister Zara died young correct, before your wings came out. So where then did you get the wings?"

"Demon bones," Ace replied, "No my original body was the one I left this world with, I built up to this one over the past few months thanks to the demons. How did Zara get hers?"

"Oh I believe that Zar used the bones of dead dwarves to enlarge and wing her body, much like you used the demon bones," K replied, "To be honest I was not expecting you, for obvious reasons and since the necromancy that Cynder, Zar and Mephisto cast in and around your cave didn't bring you back the first time. Still I am glad you made it thanks to this Zora was it?"

"Yup that's her," Ace confirmed, "You know her?"

"The name I've heard before but I can not place it," K said, "You could probably ask around to find out who knew her."

"I think I might at that," Ace said, "but first I got to ask, my brother's right sii you healed that?"

"Indeed," K replied, "As well as his wing, his eye, and both his mate's wings."

"Strange for one who reeks of destruction to bring about so much healing," Ace said as the flaming dragon left the cave to meet the rest of his family.

K watched the newest member of his Dragon Company leave before turning his attention back to Hightower and Hawk. "Ok so if the base to the west is being guarded by Ace's zombies we are free to focus on the north."

"Which is fine and all but there are a half million demons up there," Hightower said, "What are you going to do, even with you considerable power, to a force that large?"

"Us, nothing," K replied, "But Doug in the space ships in orbit could rain down death like the grim reaper himself upon these amassed demons."

"Not if they are in the Dark-wood," Hawk said, "Try as you might no light, saber, laser or otherwise can harm anything withing those woods."

"Why is that," K asked, "I would assume it would take more than some trees to stop the barrage of lasers Doug could call down."

"The trees are just a symptom," Hawk explained, "Those woods are the largest untapped source of wild magic on the continent."

"So that's where you and Fisher got you immunity to magic from," Hightower commented, "Sounds like you have first hand experience with this 'Dark-wood'"

Hawk looked like he was bout to reply when Fisher and Jackson ran into the cave.

"Bad news," Fisher said, "The Dark-wood is here."

"What," K asked with that chilling voice he fell into when things were falling apart around him.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Jackson added, "One minute there was the plain to our north and then there was this forest. Its so gloomy that you can't see past the first line of trees."

"Show me," K said. They took off for the walls where he could get a good view of the situation. Celantra was already on the walls with Spyro and Cynder. The citizens of Haven were locking themselves in their houses while harried looking guards ran this way and that, as if any sort of preparation could help against the desperate fighting that would ensue as soon as night fell. RuGaard landed next to him as K surveyed the forest.

"Grim isn't it," the copper said, "I could send AuRon off to gather the Ariel Host."

"No your dragons would just get slaughtered," K counseled, "no what we need is some of Doug's ships in low orbit with kinetic rounds."

_"I can do that," _Doug's voice sounded in K's head.

_"Then get it done," _K thought back.

"Your talking with him again aren't you," Celantra stated.

K was going to reply but then the demons charged from the forest. With a scant hundred feet between the forest and the town, ranged attacks were of little use. Still K, C, Spyro and Cynder laid down a killing field of magic giving the rest of DC time to mobilize. Cortana was the first one out, followed by Eragon and Saphira. Adan and Starkiller were in with Sataen's family by the gate, Marion, the cat Jinxirattuholingtonbumin, and the Spartans were dispersing through out the city to react to the demons that were being dropped in by fliers or catapult. AuRel and NooMauk led the dragons like them out into the sky to counteract the flying demons, while Ignitus led strafing runs across the hundred foot stretch between the forest and the walls.

Before long the thuds of Doug's bombardment began to sound as craters started appearing in the fields. Even with all their power arrayed against the demon hoard, a half million demons were to many for even K, Celantra and DC to keep out of the city without help. There was a battering ram demon arrayed against the front gate even in the face of withering fire from Marion and the Spartans. Then Riza was there with her ACU building up the defenses around the gate and staving off the breach that was surely to come.

K spotted a rather nasty looking pair of Char that were heading in to melt through the walls, rendering the gate useless. He glanced a C and nodded to the two demons, she nodded back and he hopped down from the wall to intercept them, white spikes firing from his hands through the fall. He landed in a shock wave that deflected the incoming fave of plasma from the two demons before he sprinted to them and eviscerated the pair. He looked up just in time to see Wistala crashing towards him caught in a grapple with one of the flying demons. K dodged back to the wall then used it as a prop to propel him up onto the demon that was harrying Tala before it could rip her neck hearts out, but not before she crashed into the ground. After K killed the demon he healed Tala's injuries and was about to return to the fight when a shock wave rolled over him followed by a cataclysmic boom.

"I don't believe it," Wistala said, "Its the Lavadome."

K followed her gaze to see a large crystalline half dome with what looked like teeth hanging from the bottom of it hovering in the air. If that wasn't enough of a sight to take in displayed across it structure was Legion 141 an Egyptian man and... K could swear that the other man looked just like Moroni used to before they fell. What was even more distracting was that they all looked like they were ready to put on a rock concert more so than to fight demons, and as the long, low thrum of the guitars started the intro to Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory," K face palmed himself. Or hi did until the first lyrics were sung.

"Wake up in the morning and I raise my weary head. I got an old coat for a pillow and the earth was last night's bed. I don't know where I'm going. Only God knows where I've been. I'm a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind, yeah!"

That voice, that was Moroni's voice, but it couldn't be, could it? Then the dome light up and beams of heat burned bloody swaths across the forest that it traveled over. On top of that what looked to be five squadrons of fighter aircraft came soaring out from the top of the dome. And all the while "Blaze of Glory" was being rocked out by Legion 141 and their two new friends.

"When you're brought into this world, they say you're born in sin. Well at least they gave me something. I didn't have to steal or have to win. Well they tell me that I'm wanted, yeah, I'm a wanted man. I'm a colt in your stable, I'm what Cain was to Abel, Mister catch me if you can! I'm going down in a blaze of glory. Take me now but know the truth. I'm going out in a blaze of glory. Lord, I never drew first, but I drew first blood. I'm no one's son. Call me young gun. You ask about my conscience, and I offer you my soul. You ask if I'll grow to be a wise man, when I ask if I'll grow old. You ask me if I known love, and what it's like to sing songs in the rain. Well, I've seen love come, I've seen it shot down, I've seen it die in vain! Shot down in a blaze of glory. Take me now but know the truth. 'Cause I'm going down in a blaze of glory. Lord I never drew first, but I drew first blood. I'm the devil's son, Call me young gun.

K pulled his swords out from another demon as the battle continued on. Tala had returned to the air where she and DharSii were helping to keep the faster demons off of AuRon. And still the song persisted.  
"Each night I go to bed. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. No, I ain't looking for forgiveness but before I'm six foot deep. Lord, I got to ask a favor and I'll hope you'll understand. 'Cause I've lived life to the fullest, let the boy die like a man. Staring down the bullet let me make my final stand. Shot down in a blaze of glory. Take me now but know the truth. I'm going out in a blaze of glory. Lord I never drew first, but I drew first blood. I'm no one's son. Call me young gun. I'm a young gun, yeah! Young gun, yeah. Young gun..."

Sometime during the fighting Celantra had joined him on the battlefield that was the northern side of Haven and now they were driving back the remainders of the hoard of demons as even the scorched forest seemed to retreat. K shot two more, sword-spikes into the backs of the retreating demons, then C gave him a lick getting most of him wet with her tongue.

"Hey, Look I'm glad we won to dear but lets try not to get me soggy," K teased.

C nuzzled him before looking up. Following her gaze, K saw that the Lavadome, as Wistala had called it was floating right above them now and Legion 141 was... floating... down to them. Despite this there was only one figure that K really saw, Moroni. Not the twisted corrupted Moroni that Cloak had erased from time back on Earth, but Moroni as he used to be a Cherub in the service of God with all the power and authority that that position offered. K had a few questions to put to his old friend.

"Moroni," K said flatly.

"Kalathanon," Moroni replied just as inflection-less.

They looked each other over and K felt Celantra moving to flank Moroni in case the situation exploded. K smiled then said, "Since when did you like rock and roll?"

Moroni and Legion 141 seemed to release a collective sigh of relief, only to hold their breath again as Carter stormed over to them. The Leviathan-Spartan simultaneously threw his helmet to the ground revealing a pure black skinned face with red eyes and short, spiky red hair, and pinned Moroni to the wall of Haven with his eighteen inch long combat knife.

"You bastard, you killed Cloak," He hissed, "I demand payment for that."

K lunged as the knife stroke connected with Moroni's head but strangely no blood flew. Instead Carter was holding three strands of Moroni's hair, which he then handed off to Cloak as she came up beside him.

"Oh Carter dear, for all your suave you can be so uncivil at times," She reprimanded as she took the hair, "Oh Moroni I will need a bit of your blood if you don't mind."

"What are you two doing," K asked. His suspicions about the two having gone into high gear.

"Probably getting their dragon bodies back," Moroni answered as he took the knife from Carter and pricked his finger, "Here this should be enough."

Cloak caught the blood droplets on the strands of hair which began to sizzle. Moroni backed away from the two and put Legion 141 behind him, K got between C and the two Spartans as they were surrounded by light. Then an explosion knocked K into C and threw the others there to the ground. As K looked up he saw Cloak and Carter, both in their Leviathan bodies. Carter with his red and black and the spikes, and Cloak with her blue and gold and tiara-like horns.

"Ah its good to be back," Carter said, "Moroni your still a bastard."

"Carter," Cloak chided.

"But, were even now," Carter replied.

"I think not," Moroni said, "If it was not for Cloak banishing me from time I would never have found this redemption in time to warn you of Lucifer's plans. I owe you one, Cloak."

"What about my brother's plans," K asked.

"Lucifer is planing an invasion but not to this universe from hell," Moroni said, "No he is aiming for another dimension, the one that your Starkiller comes from, then he will hit this dimension if his invasion of that universe fails."

"If that is so then why are all these demons here," the Egyptian man asked, drawing K's attention for the first time.

"Hold it I know you," K said, "High Priest Imhotep? When did you get released from the Hom Dai?"

"How do you... Anubis?" Imhotep asked shakenly.

K morphed into the jackal-headed god-like being that he played as when he had subverted Egypt, then back into his 'normal' human form. "It is good to see you again Imhotep, I have need of you."

"My lord," Imhotep replied as he bowed to K.

"Oh drop the titles and bowing," K said, "I gave up that position long ago, but it seems you still have the powers I gave you all those thousands of years ago so you really can be of great help to us. How does fighting our way into Hell to try and redeem the other demon lords sound?"

Imhotep looked up at him then turned to Legion 141, "Is he serious?"

"Oh yeah," Soap replied, "And this time he is not going to be leaving us on some backwater planet."

"How does our home count as a backwater," Ghost asked.

"Cut it out," K intervened, "Moroni, your sure Lucifer is planning an invasion of Starkiller's universe?"

"Helped draw up the plan myself," Moroni answered, "Whatever your planning you need to finish up with the token force that is here and head out immediately."

"Token force," Celantra said, "There is half a million demons here. What does a main force count as?"

"Between five and ten million," Moroni replied, "and that's not counting some of the stronger special forces divisions."

"Where did you guys find the Lavadome," RuGaard asked as he and Nilrasha landed beside them, "and who are the new faces. Cater, Cloak glad to see your back to your drakine selves."

"Tala used that term too," K said, "What is it?"

"The giant crystal globe that they flew in on," Nilrasha said, "Also used to be the seat of the dragon empire, the old dragon empire."

"So you used an inter-dimensional, time and space traveling device as a city," Doctor said as he inadvertently dropped in on the conversation. "That's mighty brilliant and you say we need to head to another dimension?"

"One step at a time," K advised, "First we kill the demons here then we worry about getting to Starkiller's universe."

"If we are heading back then Qui-gon should go back with us," RuGaard remarked, "It is his universe too."

"So then we finish these demons and head for Middle Earth," K announced, "Spread the word we head out at dawn, Moroni show me how that dome you found works."

Character

Spyro

Spyro and Cynder were leaning against each other after the Dark-wood had been driven back. Before the crystal dome thing had appeared and started burning everything underneath it, Cynder and he had been in the middle of a very high speed aerial and ground fight against some new nightmare that Lucifer had unleashed and now the two were leaning against each other as they caught their breath.

The new demons looked like a demented dragonfly. Four wings provided extreme maneuverability while a long tail and small compact body allowed for a highly stable and light platform for the four arm-like grappling appendages that could clip a dragon's wings off in a heartbeat with their vice-shaped claws. The blue, white, and gray coloring that these demons sported didn't help either, allowing them to blend in with the sky. The only weakness that Spyro of Cynder could find was that these demons had only one eye on the front of their bodies.

"Should have brought the armor," Cynder said between breaths.

"Against these things sure," Spyro replied, "But its harder to use our powers with the armor on, a lot harder."

"Then we should start getting used to it," Cynder commented.

"Mom, Dad, there you are," Krista called from above them, "Come on K wants us to be ready to attack the Dark-wood at dawn."

Looking up Spyro saw that his daughter and Geyser, her mate, both had the sense to wear their armored power suits that Sarge had made for the dragons. The industrial Spartan must have spent every free second of his time making the suits over the past twenty-five to thirty years just to have gotten so many.

"Ok we'll be there just give us a second," Spyro said.

"Also that Moroni is back and is apparently on our side now," Geyser added.

Spyro and Cynder both looked at each other before gliding into the air, "He's what," Cynder asked just to clarify.

"He's working with us," Krista replied, "Or at least K and Carter haven't killed him again yet."

"But Cloak erased him, meaning he never was," Spyro said, "Cynder was there when it happened."

"Dear what if K is right," Cynder said, "What if his redeemed back to God tale is true, and now if Moroni has undergone the same experience... What if K is not trying to kill the other demon lords?"

"You think he is going to try and save them," Krista said, "That seems a little far fetched even for K but..."

"K is just crazy enough to try," Spyro added as they were starting their decent to meet with K and their new 'friends', "I think we should have a plan ready that we can use in case he does something stupid."

"Agreed," Geyser and Krista replied and Cynder nodded her agreement.

The next few hours went by with introductions to Moroni and Imhotep, then drawing up an attack plan for invading the Dark-wood. That feat was not as simple as it sounded as half way through the planing process AuSurath, one of AuRon's sons, landed bringing news that the Dark-Wood had breached the lands of Hypatia, the heart of the empire.

"Well that makes this a right bit more complicated," Fisher remarked.

"Tell that to my siblings," AuSurath replied, "I must head back soon to report on you status there are several factions who think that Tyr RuGaard might be dead along with the rest of you."

"Hold your flight for a day and we can prove that we are not dead," Tala said.

"Agreed this will have to be a three sided war," K said, "One spearhead will come from here, Haven, another from the Forest Lands Castle, and the third from the seat of your empire RuGaard."

"So who will go where," Spyro asked.

"You, your family, and the Guardians will head north with Hawk, Fisher, and Griffen since they are the only two who are known to the people at the Castle and because having an ACU around is always helpful. The Primes will accompany you as well." K replied, "AuRel you and your family will go to Hypatia Riza will go with you as will Adam, Marion, Jinx, Tyreal, and Starkiller. Lastly Legion 141, the Spartans, the Doctor, River, Jackson, Ivan, C and myself will remain here. Doug will of course remain in orbit, Cortana, John, Arbiter, Blood-Raven, Xarle, Tom I want you all to head back to the ship, as well as you and the other Leviathans, Scaron."

"As you say," Scaron replied.

"If your heading back to the ship could you send down our power armor," Spyro asked.

"Sure thing big guy," Xarle said as he climbed onto Scaron's back.

"Right then everyone rest up tomorrow will be interesting," K said as he dismissed the meeting.

"Finally I'd thought we'd never get out of that cave," Spyro remarked to Cynder as they made their way to the side passage that their room was off of.

"I'm just ready to get some sleep," Cynder said, "We may not age like other beings but you and I are a good hundred and fifty years old."

"True, but Ignitus is even older than that," Spyro replied as the two ducked into their cave, "He must be about a thousand."

"Oh stop rationalizing and come here you, It gets cold in here without you," Cynder said.

"Sorry," Spyro said as he curled around her and the two drifted into sleep.

Spyro woke with a start as something hard snapped across his nose. He struck out with his claws and sent Fisher flying across the cave, leaving a trail of blood from the slashed he had inadvertently put into her. He jumped over to the injured woman and healed her with his regenerating breath.

"Ow," Fisher said as she picked herself up, "Guess that's what I get for slapping an adult dragon across the nose."

"Sorry," Spyro replied, "But why did you slap me?"

"Cynder's fault she said to let you sleep in," Fisher replied, "thanks for the patch up big guy, now lets go the others are ready to head to the Castle."

"Want to ride," Spyro asked.

"Sure," Fisher responded as she climbed up on his back, "Meet the others out front of the north gate."

Spyro walked out to the entrance to the cave system that they had taken up residence in and then jumped into the air and glided across the city to the north side. His armor was waiting for him there and Cynder was already in hers, as were the rest of his family and friends. Griffen lumbered over in his ACU and Hawk was on his shoulder.

"What took you so long," Hawk asked.

"The big lap dog here startles easy," Fisher replied.

"Haha, that he does," Cynder said, "Go on and get into your armor you'll need it."

Spyro dropped Fisher off on Griffen's other shoulder before landing to get the armor on. Just like his first time trying it on the armor was a tight fit, but that was by design. The actual black, armor plating rested a good foot above the padded underside, hydraulic mechanisms, and miniature reactor that supported and powered the suit. After he got it on the suit powered up and motion trackers, range finders, target monitors and other information were displayed on his visors. He test fired the rockets to make sure they were functioning properly then used the on board communication relay to call Cortana.

"Cortana, Spyro here, we are ready to go," Spyro said.

"About time," Cortana replied, "Ok I'll tell Doug."

Spyro shut the channel, once Doug knew then K would know and they could start moving.

"So anything we should know about this Castle before we get there," Spyro asked Hawk and Fisher, "Preferably anything about the people there?"

"Well they have seen dragons before and even let a friend of ours who was a dragon stay there for a time," Fisher replied.

"Ok but I was wondering why you left," Spyro asked.

Before he could get an answer K flew into their midst, "Ah good your ready to go, Now the Forest Kingdoms is in the middle of the Dark-wood, how the castle has survived I don't know, but the people in there are going to need food, water, etc. so C made up some packages for you to take, they shouldn't be heavy for you in those suits. You'll find them just inside the city, pick them up before you leave. Now I must go see the others off and do be careful, I... I've lost to many friends to this war."

K took off again before anyone could say anything to him. Spyro jumped back into the city to see about these 'packages' that K mentioned. They were cargo crates, fifteen of them, from Doug's ships, the big ones. If they were filled to the top then each one must weigh a ton or more.

"Now how are we going to carry all of those," Terrador asked as he landed next to Spyro.

Spyro knew it was Terrador because of the elder dragon's voice and the tags on the armor. Since all the armor was blacked out, Sarge had painted the first three letters of each dragon's name on the armor in their dominant color. So Terrador's armor read 'Ter', Cynder's was 'Cyn' and his own was 'Spy.'

"I guess we carry them," Spyro replied, "After all the suits allow us to lift much more than we normally could."

"True," Terrador said, "Still, that's a lot of weight and carrying it under us is going to make for some interesting flying."

"Well lets get going them," Fiona said as she landed on one of the boxes and took off with it.

"Huh, I guess they are lighter than they look," Spyro remarked.

"Or she is stronger than she looks," Terrador chuckled, "She is your daughter after all."

"True," Spyro replied as he grappled a container and jetted into the sky. It took them the better part of the day to get to the Forest Kingdom Castle and most of that time was spent worrying about if the demons would come out to fight them or not, since the crates made not only flying but fighting clumsy and tiring. So when they got to the Castle and were told to wait in a holding pattern until someone decided to let them in or not, Spyro, Hawk and Fisher had had enough, and so had everyone else. Besides it's not like the Castle could very well argue with armor plated dragons that were bringing them food. Even so a messenger ran out when they landed to tell them, quite nervously, that they couldn't land there since the king and his officials hadn't decided to let them in yet.

"Well if you don't want people landing in your courtyard and bringing you food you should shield the top of the castle," Fisher replied before sending the messenger on his way.

"That was more diplomatic than normal," Spyro commented.

Fisher was going to respond when a mass of people in very fancy cloths pushed their way towards them, parting to allow a tall, rugged if somewhat graying, man with a cool demeanor and strong face and presence come to the forefront.

"Rupert, Julia," The King, if the gold crown on the stately man's head was any indication, "By the moons it is you, why you must be close to sixty now but you don't look a day over thirty five."

"Harald," Hawk said, "You look... better?"

"Ha that's probably cause I'm not trying to take Julia from you or subvert you in some way to make me look better," Harald, the king, replied. "No I look terrible and feel worse."

"Wait hold up," Spyro said, "Rupert and Julia? Seriously? Those are your real names?"

"So you brought more dragons to us I see and whatever that thing is," Harald remarked, "What do these ones collect egg shells, flowers?"

"I'm guessing there is some history here," Cynder said, "Why don't we get these supplies passed out and you can tell us all about it."

_"Why do I get the feeling we just landed in a whole mess of crazy," _Spyro thought to Cynder.

_"Probably because we did," _Cynder replied.

"Hey just got word," Griffen said drawing some of the attention of the growing crowd of people, "RuGaard and company have arrived in Hypatia."

"RuGaard that stuck up dragon king," Harald stated, "You know he tried to get us to join some empire or another, and ruled by dragons no less, ridiculous."

"You realize we are the heads of state for our race back home right," Spyro said.

"Oh great," Harald remarked, "So your not just armored dragons but royal, armored dragons. well at least you can sleep inside the castle is bigger on the inside, even enough space for the talking statue there."

"Hey I'm not a statue," Griffen said as he glided down from his ACU and morphed into his human form.

Harald just stared at Griffen for a moment before putting his hand to his head and muttering something before saying, "Rupert I need to know what you two have done to stay so young, with friends like these I'll need it."

Spyro chuckled at that as they were led inside to explain the situation about the Dark-wood and DC.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: So it is a Boat.

Character Grishnake

"So it is a boat," Grishnake said as Haggard continued to explain his brand new hydro-transport system.

"No not a boat, well sort of like a boat but for lava," Haggard replied.

They were trying to get to a time rift that was allowing fire elementals and other various creatures from Avalar's past to find their way into it's present. The rift however happened to be across a lava flow in a cave that was to tight for Orthino, Chris or Ve to fly through, and tunneling under it might weaken the channel and drop lava down onto whoever was digging the tunnel. So Haggard's 'boat' idea was the next best thing.

"Ok fine how would we build it," Grishnake asked.

"No, not going to happen," Serana said, "I am not getting onto a boat that is going into a lava stream. Lets just freeze the lava on top and walk over."

"You just tried that and it didn't work," Orthino observed.

"Oh shut up," Serana snapped as she stormed off to go throw more ice into the lava flow.

"Right I'll need twelve adamantium bricks to be fashioned into a hull then anything you've got that can hold a chill to line the boat with," Haggard said, "Now the channel isn't long but we will need enough ice to keep us from being roasted like an egg in a pan. I can propel us with the Pyrolauncher, so the longest part of this build will be hammering out the hull."

"I'm a smith I can make the hull if you can spare the materials," Grishnake said, "Lyd, Serana, you two go find some soul gems I'm sure the crystals here can be fashioned into them, and those demons and orc-golems that are strewn all over still could use a good harvesting."

"Well it certainly beats standing around down here," Lydia replied as she got Serana and headed for the entrance.

"Chris, Ve, go see Malcolm get anything that has a frost or cold enchantment on it," Grish continued, "Orthino you and Red go hunt through your sleeping chamber see if anything in there could be helpful for keeping the cool in or the heat out."

"Right back to the creepy tomb," Red said, "Come on big guy give me a lift."

"Preston, Sweetwater, help Haggard get this boat design drawn out on some of this drafting paper," Grish added as he handed a roll of gridded paper to the three, "I'll keep watch for more elementals."

"I'm just glad that bullets work on those things," Preston remarked.

Grish nodded to them as he unstrapped his backpack and started pulling out his smithing equipment. One fifteen pound anvil, three kinds of hammers, tongs, pliers, bellows, an apple, two carrots and a salmon.

"Um, do I even want to know how or why you carry all that around," Sweets said as he looked over Grish's equipment.

"When your the head smith for a tribe of orcs for twenty years you learn to carry around the oddest things," Grish replied as he set to building a forge from the volcanic rocks around the lava flow. It took some work but by the time the others had returned he had a nice set up, all he was missing was a big roaring fire to work the metal with.

"Orthino mind giving an old orc a hand," Grish asked,

"You, Old? I doubt that, but I'll see what I can do," Orthino said as he bathed the forge in fire-breath then fine tuned the stream of heat to just the forge, "Ok all the fire you could want."

"Hey Spyro can do that trick too," Haggard said as he brought over the plans for the boat.

"Alright every one else keep back there are going to be a lot of sparks," Grish warned before he threw the first adamantium bars into Orthino's fire. He chose a good three pound hammer with a dual head, one flat one round. Throwing on his thick smithing gloves he grabbed the tongs, pulled one of the bars out and went to work. The cave rung with the rise and fall of the hammer, an old melody that Grish knew well, he missed smithing so went into this project with everything he had. First it was bars into large flat pieces then those pieces were slowly curved into the shape of a hull before he took another eight bars of adamantium and hammered out ribs to support the hull and hold the metal sheets together. Several rivets later and he was finished. As the metal cooled the blue came back out giving it a very ocean like feel.

"Ok Lydia, Serana you two got those soul gems filled," Grish asked.

"Right here," Lyd replied as she held out five large, glowing gems.

"Thanks," Grish muttered as he took the gems, "Now this will be experimental at best, I've no idea what effects trapping spirits in these gems has on them. Serana you got that portable enchanting table?"

"Yeah, I never leave the castle without it," Serana said as she pulled out and unrolled the slatted mat with the archaic symbols on it.

Grish took the mat and put in in the boat with the gems. He arranged the gems on the mat so there power would flow into the structure of the boat and then he assigned an attribute to each gem. On was fire resistance, one got carry weight, on got a silent effect, one received a chilling aura, and the last one would reduce the visibility of anyone traveling in the boat. The gems burned up and the boat flashed once before Grish felt the air around it grow colder, then it lifted off the ground with Grish in it.

"Whoa, that's new," Grish remarked as he looked over the side, "Still I think it is best this way, so the metal doesn't touch the lava, here someone throw me up a rope."

Grish anchored the boat to the ground with the rope and allowed Haggard, Serana and Lydia inside, before having Redford untie them from the anvil and Haggard jetted them across the lava.

"Ok so how do we stop or get down," Lydia asked.

"We don't were just looking at this rift then heading back," Grish replied, "Hags let off on the steam we are going to go through the portal. Oh crap."

With a flash they went through the rift, on the other side was Warfang, a much older or is it newer, Warfang. Surrounding it was a hoard of Elementals and commanding them was Malafor.

"Get us back through that Portal," Grish snapped as he drew Grond and loosed three bolts into the vanguard of the elemental army that was turning on them.

"What is this trickery," Malafor's voice boomed out.

"Get down," Lydia shouted as she and Serana dropped down below the edge of the boat.

A black beam streaked across the boat but didn't harm it as Malafor turned his attention to them.

"Whoa Malafor," Haggard said, "Its us what are you doing?"

The large dragon stopped his attack and looked them over. "How do you know of me," he asked.

"Uh we've been paling around the universes for thirty years," Haggard said, "How could you not remember that... oh you've not met us yet have you?"

Before Malafor could change his mind and fry them, Grish grabbed the Pyrolauncher and loosed in towards the dragon sending them back through the rift.

"There they are grab them," Ve said as Chris tackled the boat to the ground back on the other side of the lava.

"Thanks," Grish said as he helped the women out then gave Hags back his weapon. "We've got problems."

"Talk," Orthino said.

"Malafor, the pre-DC one, has an army of elementals on the other side of that rift and I think he means to send them through it since he can't get them into Warfang in his current time."

"See I'm telling you we should just collapse all these tunnels," Ve said.

"Who is this Malafor," Orthino asked, "You've mentioned him but why would he attack his own city. If he is a purple then the city should belong to him."

"Malafor almost destroyed, the world, dragon kind, freedom and magic," Chris said, "Now he works with K and friend of the two-legs here."

"Watch it spiky," Serana said.

"Leave it," Grish ordered, "Oh blood it, If only Jinx were here..."

"The Dragonborn has been missing for years," Lydia said, "She sure didn't end up here."

"Dragonborn," Orthino asked, "what is that?"

"A non-dragon that has the spirit of one in it," Grish said, "Last one we knew was a Khajiit named Jinxirattuholingtonbumin, we just called her Jinx though. Dang I miss that cat. She could show Malafor not to mess with us, can shout dragons right out of the sky."

"Well she's not here but if its a grounded Malafor you want," Preston said, "Then I think we can help, I got Flyn on the radio, him, Hadriel, Sparta and Alexandria are heading for here as we speak. They should appear just outside the walls on the east side."

"Well they better not mess up our stone work," Redford said, "Is the hippie bringing his chopper?"

"Oh yeah," Preston replied, "The big one."

"Show me," Grish said as they started for the exit, "Oh and bring the boat, I've got an idea for when our wayward friend shows up."

Character Fenix

"What do you mean 'something'," Fenix asked Ravalon as the demon made his report about Char, the city where Lurbruk was rebuilding.

"Well jusst that it iss a ssomething," the giant snake from of Ravalon replied.

"And could you stop with the sss," Throon asked.

"Right sorry," Ravalon replied, "but seriously some of those ash men were there one day and the next they all were gone."

"How can they all just be gone," Baird asked, "I mean its not like the wind blows them down so what did?"

"Nothing, there are not even piles of ash like when they get disturbed," Ravalon replied, "It like they just walked off."

"We'll deal with the missing bodies later," Dom said, "First we need to check out Johnson work with the navy, he says its amazing."

"Right, lets go," Fenix said, "Ravalon get back to work, I'll go see about Char maybe I can pick up something with my abilities."

"Very well," the demon said as he slithered out of the gates of Mercy.

"And here things were just starting to settle down to," Anya remarked, "Oh well, shall we go see this navy?"

An hour later and they had left the dilapidated town and were in the now sprawling industrial heart of their revival process, Ivan, Riza, Griffen and Cortana's old bases.

"It's so shiny and new," Coal remarked, "Seems out of place in this desert."

"Ah there you are," Johnson said as he walked up behind them and placed a tentacle-arm around Fenix and Dom, "Your going to like this bit, follow me."

"Ok so it is a boat," Baird said as they looked at the 'navy.' It was a single aircraft carrier, which while impressive didn't count as a navy.

"Did you use all your resources on that," Throon asked, "I thought I left someone competent in charge."

"Don't judge to quickly," Johnson remarked, "listen."

Fenix heard an annoying thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, but nothing else, nothing of interest.

"It sounds like it has a loose cable or something," Fenix replied.

"That's no cable," Baird said, "It sounds like... something walking."

"Look behind you," Johnson said with a smile on his dark green face.

Fenix turned around to see five, fully armed, battle ships walking over the ridge on crab-like legs. They were followed by fifteen smaller destroyer class vessels then all of them walked into the ocean and folded up their legs while the city sized carrier walked out of the ocean on eight giant legs and parked itself a hundred feet above their heads.

"Now that is a boat," Coal said, "There wouldn't happen to be Thrashball field on it would there?"

"You bet there is," Johnson said, "I was planning of having you guys drive it back to Mercy to lighten up the mood, you could probably get the entire town in there if you wanted. Its got stated of the art living quarters."

"Johnson," Fenix said, "Don't ever change. Ok lets take the city back to town. How do we get in?"

"With these," Johnson said as four heavy transports landed near by, "You can use them to get the townspeople into the ship, they are programmed to ferry to and from the ship and will follow it staying a hundred yards off on each compass direction."

"Nice," Fenix said as he led the team, including Throon now, to the transports. After he got more details out of Anya about how Throon saved her, even Fenix had at least gotten less cold towards the impromptu leader of the Locust.

"Alright everyone strap in and welcome to COG airlines. I am Baird and I'll be your captain today," Baird said over the radio.

"That's great now shut up and get us moving," Fenix replied with a slight grin.

After the five minute trip to the carrier and the ten minute walk to the bridge they were off. The carrier moved fast even on land and covered the distance to Mercy in half their original time. As they got close though Fenix felt something, at first he thought it was Ravalon again but he quickly realized that he felt an army of undead.

"Baird, Coal, get the guns on this thing fired up," Fenix yelled as he grabbed Dom, Anya and Throon and headed for the deck.

"We don't have any ground based weapons only AA," Baird radioed back, "But this ship is capable of producing aircraft, it's a walking aircraft plant."

"Then have it make gunships if it can," Fenix replied, "We've got undead attacking Mercy."

"So that's what this is about," Throon said, "I doubt they will get past Hoffman and Pestilence."

"Well from what I am picking up it feels like..." Fenix trailed off as they rose over the forest an got their first clear look at Mercy. There was an ocean of ash and cinder figures trying to burn down the gates.

"Oh," Anya breathed, "It must be the entire city of Char out there."

"So that's what Ravalon and Lurbruk were talking about," Dom said, "Blarg man, Char was home to over three million people, if there all those flaming ash men..."

"Then we're in deep blarg," Fenix finished. Then switching to a long range channel, "Johnson you there?"

"Fenix what do you need," Came the jovial reply.

"An army big enough to defend against three to five million undead and I need it by last week," Fenix said.

"Ok I'll drive the rest of the navy over there. You get started by producing planes out of the carrier," Johnson said, "I'll also bring along the few ground forces that the commanders left."

"That's perfect see you soon," Fenix said as he cut the channel, "Ok guys time to hold the gates until backup arrives."

A transport landed on the carrier and they boarded it, as it dropped them off in the town it's rail-guns auto-targeted some of the undead that were beating against the gate.

"Hey Baird set the transports to patrol around the city, their guns will target the undead," Fenix radioed.

"On it," Baird replied, "The factory is online now that we have stopped moving so more gunships and bombers coming up."

"Good," Fenix said before ending the call, "Just be careful with the bombers send them out away from the city wouldn't want to punch a hole for these creeps through our wall."

"Fenix," You've got good timing and even better entrances," Hoffman said as he rode up on the mutant rock-worm Pestilence.

"Yeah congratulate us later lets go kill us some undead," Fenix remarked as he jumped on Pestilence, followed by Anya then Throon and Dom.

"I've ordered the other Gears and Locust who can fight into sniper positions but with so many out there if the undead made a concerted effort they would get into the town," Hoffman said, "Can we start getting the civilians onto that walking city of yours?"

"Baird did you get that," Fenix asked.

"Yup calling in the transports now," Baird replied so all of them could hear him, "I've got them programmed to ferry to and from the ship in the church courtyard."

"I'll go coordinate the transport," Hoffman said as he slid off of their buggy ride, "I'll let you know when the civilians are gone then we can start getting the soldiers out."

"Right," Fenix replied as he tossed his lancer to Anya, his shotgun to Throon and his pistol to Dom, "Time to teach these guys not to mess with Delta."

"Glad to be a part of the team," Throon remarked as he pumped the shotgun so it was loaded.

They got to the gate and it opened just enough to let them out before shutting again. Spread out before them was a sea of burning, ash, hulls of what used to be people. Fenix didn't waste any more time sizing up the situation and started blasting the undead with a rain of platinum colored energy bolts that shredded any of the unliving in there way. The rat-tatata-ra-ta-rat of the lancer, boom of the shotgun, and the pop, pop, pop of both pistols being fired let Fenix know that the others had decided on the same course of action. Then a group of six gunships flew in close over head to provide support, courtesy of Baird and Coal, followed by six fighter bombers that headed out into the crowd of undead. Even with all that they may have killed a thousand out of millions, Fenix could tell this was going to be a long day.

Character Gandalf

"Ah here we go," Gandalf said as he blew the dust off an old scroll rack in the back rooms of the library of Gondor. The elderly man with sparkling wise eyes, bird-like nose white, shoulder length, hair, a white mustache and beard that were neatly trimmed and white robes, was holding a white staff from which a light illuminated the dim marble room that he and Qui-gon Jin, a younger looking man with brown hair, eyes, beard, and robes, were rummaging through.

"You found them," Qui-gon asked.

"I think so," Gandalf replied as he pulled out a scroll and opened it up, "Hmm... some more light." He tapped his staff on the floor twice and the gem at the top grew brighter allowing him to see the ancient elvish runes that were on the scroll. "Of course," Gandalf laughed, "Its in elvish."

"Well we know an Elf," Qui-gon replied, referring to Legolas.

"Indeed," Gandalf stated, "last I heard he and Gimli were scouting the northern Mirkwood, following up on tales of a dragon in the area. I believe we could pay them a visit, of course Aragorn and Arwen need to know we are taking this scroll."

"Then we should tell them and be on our way," Qui-gon said.

"Agreed," Gandalf replied as he exited the chamber and made his way up the winding staircase to the outside of the library into Minas Tirith proper, just outside the royal residence where his old friends lived. Arwen, the half-elven queen was already outside tending to the white tree that was making a comeback in the garden on the pinnacle of the city. She turned to them and a smile light up her elegant face as she approached them.

"Mithrandir, Qui-gon Jin," She greeted, "Have you found what you seek?"

"Indeed," Gandalf replied as he showed her the scroll, "You don't happen to know this version of elven do you?"

"This is old writing indeed," Arwen said as her brow furrowed, "I can read it but it will be of no help to you, the scroll has a different message for each reader and I dare not read what it says the future holds for me. There may only be a few beings left in Middle Earth who could read that even if they wanted to never mind read its message for you. You would need to find some one terribly old and powerful to translate the writing on that scroll."

"Old and powerful like a dragon," Aragorn said as the aged but still handsome and formidable king approached with his and Arwen's son, Eldarion. "Your best bet will be to find that troublesome duo and the dragon they hunt, it out of all the beings left in Middle Earth has the best chance of being able to provide what you need."

"Your not coming," Qui-gon asked.

"Ah if you had set out ten years ago I might have but, even my blood grows old with time, and I've got a nation and a family to look after now," Aragorn replied with a smile that was both glad and sad, "No go on and when you find K and DC again give them my best wishes."

"We will at that," Gandalf said as he clasp his old friends' hands and let Eldarion play with his beard before collecting his thought's and Qui-gon's thoughts as they departed.

"I'll miss them," Qui-gon said as they made there way through the now thriving city, "After all they both were there to drive back Morgoth when we came to this world and found it enslaved to the darkness."

"Yes but so was most of DC," Gandalf replied, "Minus K, C, and their friends who were going to go start that college."

"True," Qui-gon replied as they continued through the paved stone streets, past merchants of all kinds of food, baubles, drinks, weaponry, and anything else one could find to sell.

"Not to mention the food here is undoubtedly better than what we will be eating on the road," Gandalf remarked, causing Qui-gon to laugh as they headed for the main gates. Outside Qui-gon retrieved his horse and Gandalf called for Shadowfax the king of horses and another old and trusted friend. The white stallion galloped out of the pains almost as if he had been waiting for this moment. Gandalf knew better, the stallion could appear where he wished as long as he was riderless and even with a rider there was no other ground bound creature that could keep up with him.

"Take us to Legolas," Gandalf said as he fed Shadowfax some grain from a satchel.

The horse neighed and tossed his mane in enthusiasm, as Gandalf climbed on. They spent the next twelve days on the roads before entering Mirkwood, and it took another five before they had found Legolas and Gimli in the northern tip of the dense, dark, forest camped at the foot of a mountain.

"Gandalf," Legolas, a tall blond haired elf prince, called in greeting, "Qui-gon you've arrived just in time for the slaying, assuming that the rumors about this dragon are to be true things could easily go the other way round however."

"Just what are the rumors," Qui-gon asked.

"Oh just the usual," Gimli the stocky, brown haired, dwarf lord replied, "A hundred feet tall, thousand feet long breaths lightening, is a gold and red color, etc, etc. Most likely someone saw a fire drake at night and its fire caused the illusion of lightening and the golden color."

"Don't we know some dimensional traveling lightening breathing dragons," Gandalf said.

"True but Storm never came here and Rayon is not gold, nor are any other dragons in DC," Qui-gon said, "Besides we want a Middle Earth dragon who can read the scroll for us."

"What scroll," Gimli said, "Your not planning to trap it are you?"

"We need this read," Gandalf said as he showed the two the scroll, "And a dragon is the most likely candidate to be able to read it."

"Oh great," Legolas said, "Now how are we supposed to trap a dragon?"

"You may not have to," a female voice called from somewhere near by, "Did I hear you say you knew a dragon named Storm who can use electricity?"

"Indeed you did," Gandalf replied, "how do you know her?"

"Because she is my daughter. I am Zora Soul-Mate to Terrador and mother of Storm," Zora, the mysterious voice, replied, "Now your camped on my back so if you would kindly move I would greet you properly."

"On your back," Gimli almost choked on his beer, "You really must be a thousand feet long."

"No only about fifty," Zora's harsh but high voice replied, "You just picked a very bad spot to camp."

"Hah it seems we don't get the scroll read but we are given another method of getting back to K," Qui-gon said.

"Come on them lets not impress on the good graces of our dragon hostess here any longer," Gandalf said, "Hurry and move your things."

Character

Ezio

They had found Cain and both sides had swapped stories about how they ended up in the inn where they now were planning for a venture down into Kingsport, a city where a supposedly powerful angelic artifact had recently been stolen. The only problem was none of them, Cain included, could figure out what the artifact is. Now Ezio knew from experience that ancient and powerful artifacts whose size, shape, and function were unknown could be extremely dangerous and hard to find. The last time he had to assassinate a Pope to retrieve such an artifact and stop the templars from using it to control the world.

"Hey I've got a lead," Lilith said as she and Bethany entered the room, "A member of the thieves guild and occasional business partner of ours, Lyndon, just put up a, 'rare and antiquated scabbard for sale to the highest bidder.'"

"Well it certainly seems mundane enough," Leah replied from her chair by the fire place in the main common of her inn.

"Sometimes the mundane can be extraordinary," Cain said, "Can you contact this Lyndon and tell him we will take a look at this scabbard?"

"Short of going to Kingsport," Beth replied, "No. But since we are already planning to head down there we might as well be in time for the auction. It is going to be held in three weeks."

"My coin is no good here," Ezio said, "How would we buy this scabbard, I'll not impose on any of you to bid on it for me."

"Well your an assassin," Leah said, "And it only takes a week to get to Kingsport from here. Take a contract I'm sure there is some crazy mage or renegade noble that the royal family would pay well to see removed."

"Two weeks to plan an assassination," Ezio contemplated, "I can do that."

"Good," Cain said, "Because there is something else going on here than just your quest to get home. There is a new evil afoot in the hells and I think you have a part to play in its undoing."

"Wouldn't be the first time I got wrapped up in a religious war," Ezio said, "When can we leave?"

"As soon as I get someone to watch the inn," Leah replied, "I'll go talk to Haedrig and Mira, I'm sure they could use the extra coin."

"What of yourself," Ezio asked, "Do you have gold to spare?"

"I may be young but I am no fool," Leah replied as she ducked under the counter, "I've been saving for the occasional freak event."

Ezio heard a click and the wall behind the bar slid open to reveal a room with several large chests in it and a sizable assortment of weapons and armor.

"Now that is impressive," Beth remarked, "There must be millions of gold's worth of weapons and armor in there alone, never mind what is in the chests."

"Good eye," Leah said as she entered the room and unlocked a chest, "I've spent about a million on the various articles in here, those that I didn't find in my travels, and there is another three or so stored in these chests." She pulled out two sacks of coin and then took a set of molded plate armor from the wall.

"Bethany you mind helping me with these straps," Leah asked as the muscular girl donned the heavy armor.

"Sure," Beth replied as she walked over to Leah and pulled the straps tight and tied them together.

"Thanks," Leah said, "Now Ezio go to the blacksmiths shop across the street and ask Haedrig to come over here."

Ezio nodded as he ducked out of the inn. The blacksmiths place was a large, stone building with a massive anvil and forge out front, alongside displays of weapons and armor forged by the smith. Haedrig, a strong man with short brown hair and beard, clad in a thick, leather apron and hammering on a hot piece of metal looked up as Ezio approached.

"Ah the new bloke in town," Haedrig greeted as he set the metal back into the forge, "I saw you returning with those twins, Leah and that old man."

"Yes Cain," Ezio said, "Leah sent me to get you she wants to see if your and your wife would take care of the inn while she is gone."

"Gone," Haedrig said, "Where to, Bramwell?"

"No Kingsport," Ezio replied, "For about three or four weeks."

"Ah business then," Haedrig said as he drew the metal back out of the forge and placed it on the anvil, "Aye tell the lass that Mira and I can look after the place for her." Haedrig went back to hammering which cut off any chance at further conversation so Ezio returned to the inn. Inside he saw the other four ready to go, Leah was the most striking of the assembled group. Clad in shining plate armor and with her massive crossbow slung over her shoulder the almost shy innkeeper had turned into a frightening warrior.

"Impressive isn't it," Lil said, "So what word from the blacksmith?"

"He agreed to watch the inn," Ezio said as he did a double take of Leah as she put a full plate helm on cover up all but here eyes and eerily reminiscent of the templars back home. Still she was the most stunning figure he had ever seen.

"Ah good," Leah said, "Then we can set off whenever your ready uncle."

"As ready as I'll ever be," Cain replied as he picked up his staff, "Lets go so we can get the traveling over with."

On that note the five set out, Leah stopped by Haedrig's to leave him a set of keys and gave him a pouch of gold to use for restocking the inn in case the stores started to run low. Then they were on the road.

"Oh how I wish Carter or Xavier were here," Cain said, "Flying dragon back is much easier than walking."

"I still can't believe that this Dragon Company is real," Ezio said, "It seems so... improbable."

"So is jumping off a building and landing in a forest," Beth added.

Ezio chuckled at that. It was in such a manner, with occasional backwards comments and general good humor that the five made their way to Kingsport, half way there they caught up with a caravan driver named Warriv who offered them spots in his convoy if they would protect him and his goods from bandits. They agreed and the remainder of the trip went much smoother than the first two thirds. The time it took them being cut short by riding with the caravan. Thus they arrived only five days after their departure from Tristram and Ezio was able to scan the public boards for jobs in line with his talents. He found two and decided on the one to assassinate a mage that had been terrorizing the town with undead from a nearby swamp.

Leah agreed to go with him, since Cain wanted to go to the library and study up on this scabbard if he could and Beth and Lil needed to get in touch with the elusive Lyndon to see about buying the scabbard. So he found himself the next day in the swamp with Leah, the two of them on alert for the squishing shambling sound of zombies and skeletons and looking out for any magical traps that could kill them in a variety of different and interesting ways. Ezio stopped when he heard a squish... squish-squish... squish.

"Hey did you hear something," Leah asked.

"Yeah," Ezio replied, "Sounds like a wolf or something."

"There are no wolves in these parts, to warm for them," Leah replied her voice slightly echoing due to the helmet.

"Then what sounds like a four legged animal in these parts," Ezio asked.

"A two legged one whose legs are decaying," Leah replied, "We are close."

Ezio nodded as the two continued on, he had found Leah unique back at the inn and now he truly had formed a respect for the woman. Sloughing through waist deep marsh in full plate armor, with a crossbow that must weigh as much as the armor itself and not even breathing heavy. He found her an inspiring presence here in this harsh terrain. His contemplation was interrupted as his assassin honed senses kicked in to throw him out of the way of a thrown ax. He came up to the ring of metal on metal and saw the ax had stuck into Leah's armor and she had planted her crossbow into the ground and was firing off a rapid stream of bolts into some half preserved corpses that reeked of swamp.

"Ezio watch my back," Leah called as she pointed to another group of the risen cadavers that were making their way towards the duo. Ezio pick himself up, drenched in water and mud, and made to intercept the zombies. Another ax flew out of the spars woods and he deflected it with his bracers before sending some throwing knives of his own into the zombies. The undead didn't even flinch as the knives made dull thuds and sunk into their flesh.

_"Oh crap," _Ezio thought as he engaged the undead. He used his sword since small wounds like from his hidden blades and knife didn't seem to stop the marauding dead. He cut off an arm then the head of one zombie, which subsequently fell to the ground. He knocked aside the groping hands of the next zombie then cut off its legs and kicked it off is legs and into its comrades. Another metallic ring signaled that Leah had absorbed another ax strike. There were four more undead moving in on him and Ezio assumed a defensive position. The first undead dropped as he sliced it's knees and split its head open. Then he dodged under a swipe at his face and bifurcated another zombie on his way up, leaving two halves that spasmed once then were still. The two remaining zombies charged in and he dropped them both with a single sweeping blow across their necks, leaving them headless.

"Ok clear," Ezio called.

"Good," Leah said as she came up beside him bow once again slung across her back and the two axes that had stuck into her armor in her hands, "Now I want to find the person responsible for damaging a three hundred thousand piece of ah... armor."

"Your hurt," Ezio said, "Did the axes get through?"

"Yeah just give me a second to drink a healing potion," Leah said as she pulled a red bottle out of her belt and swallowed the contents. "Ah that's better, now lets go."

They followed the sounds of someone retreating deeper into the swamp, Ezio's white cloak was now completely ruined, stained brown by the mud of the swamp, but all his gear was still sharp and functional so he decided he could get another cloak back in town after collecting the bounty of ten thousand gold for this mage. Strange though that a mage would throw axes at them and not spells, he asked Leah about it and she just shrugged saying, "It is odd I but the undead were definitely controlled by the mage so we must assume he has other spells he could resort to."

A few minutes later her words were proved true as a fire ball roared overhead and exploded into a tree a few feet behind them. Ezio and Leah both dodged behind trees and watched for the next attack. After a few seconds of nothing Ezio chanced a look around the tree. He saw a man in a ruined cloak with a scraggly stick in his hand and a unkempt graying beard and hair that ringed eyes that didn't really seem to focus on anything around the man. _"Yeah definitely crazy," _Ezio thought as he loaded one of his three remaining rounds into his concealed pistol, _"Well at least this will be a merciful way to kill the poor man." _He looked back around the tree to line up his shot but the man was not there.

"Leah," Ezio called, "Did you see him leave?"

"No," She replied, "He just disappeared. I've heard it said that extremely powerful mages can teleport themselves."

Ezio leaned back against the tree thinking about how he would kill someone who could teleport out of the way of his attacks when the man appeared right in front of him. Ezio just reacted, throwing a knife into the man's throat while simultaneously putting one of his blades into the deranged man's heart and gutting him with his sword. The man died with a gurgle and a whimper, leaving Ezio feeling sickened that he had reacted so violently, a quick thrust into the mage's skull would have been a much kinder and quicker death. But he was past the time for regrets and he took the wand from the mage as proof that the man was indeed dead.

"Wow," Leah breathed as she walked up beside him, "you really are an assassin aren't you, I've never seen anyone kill a mage before they were done with a teleport."

"Wait what," Ezio said, "He just appeared and I reacted."

"But you drew and threw that knife before the mage appeared in front of you," Leah explained, "He materialized around it. Then you finished him off before he could hit the ground, I've never seen such speed and precision."

"Well It's done now," Ezio said, "We should make camp for tonight its getting dark and I doubt the undead will be happy that their master is dead."

Leah nodded and they looked for a place to set up camp that wasn't going to involve them sleeping underwater. They were luck enough to run across the old man's hut, which happened to be on the only piece of ground that was above the water line of the swamp.

"Well might as well use it I don't think anyone is going to be home," Leah said. Then catching Ezio expression whispered, "Oh sorry, bad joke."

Ezio just walked into the hut and started laying out the bed mats. He hadn't killed for a contract in five years, and he never wanted to have to kill anyone in the state that the crazy mage was in. He kept telling himself that the man was an obvious threat, that the undead he was summoning were a danger to the people in the city. It didn't help though and he knew Leah could tell, which made it worse.

"You study philosophy," Leah asked after they had settled down for the night.

"Some," Ezio replied.

"There is a saying," Leah continued, "Sometimes we take on the scars that other people wouldn't be able to so that the greater populace can remain innocent of the cruelty that this world would force on them all. Just thought you might want to hear that."

Ezio didn't reply but he rested better than he thought he would have that night. He still was up an hour before Leah. The woman hadn't even bothered to take off her armor before crashing for the night now Ezio was listening to the even clinking that her breathing caused the armor to make as he contemplated his next move. He had to get back to his family that was a sure thing, but if Cain was right and bigger things then even the templars' plans were threatening not only his home but many worlds and many many innocents... He had spent to much of his life trying to protect those without power from those with it to let some alien force undo all he had worked for.

Ezio snapped out of his soul-searching as the clinking of Leah's armor changed its frequency and the lady awoke. Sitting up she said, "Rough night?"

"Not as bad as usual," Ezio replied as he offered her an hand to help her up. She took it and pulled herself up off the bed roll. "Five years," Ezio said, "That's how long its been since I took a contract. Others find that it gets easier but I never did."

"Well that's good," Leah said, "Anyone who doesn't have second thoughts before killing another person might as well be a demon."

"I guess we should get back," Ezio said, "Beth and Lil will already have rumors about us by the time we reach the city."

"I'll bet," Leah replied, "Those two... Yeah I get the whole raped by demons as kids story but to just throw away modesty and appropriateness seems to only increase the damage that the demons did."

"Agreed," Ezio commented as he hefted their packs and the two headed back to Kingsport, "You know I wish we had brought a boat." Leah laughed at that as they dove back into the waist deep marsh.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Trident

Character Daemon

"So everyone else gets a fancy assignment and we get stuck with guard duty," Lucifer raged, "K didn't even mention us in his dividing up of DC! What are we just luggage?"

"I for one am happy that we aren't being thrown head first into this assault," Janell commented in a vain attempt to cool Lucifer's temper.

Daemon watched with amusement as his brother paced the wall they were standing on, wings spread like a dark cloud around him and face contorted in a snarl while Janell, Daemon's wife of going on forty years now, was trying to calm Lucifer and was meeting with as much success as a leaf would have trying to stop a hurricane. He too wondered about K's neglect to mention them but he was more interested at how much trouble the Leviathan went through the mention everyone 'except' them. K generally used broad categorizations for the members of DC so for him to use so many specific names... it didn't anger Daemon but it set off red flags that K's master plan was still unfolding and they might be, no most definitely would be doing something incredibly dangerous.

"Penny for your thoughts," Saetan asked as he strode over to Daemon on this cool night.

"I doubt they are worth that much," Daemon replied, "I just think that K has something unique in store for us and I don't like it."

"Like father like son," Saetan remarked, "I was thinking the exact same thing, now we just need to convince those two to stop bickering so we can go ask K what his devious mind has come up with."

"What it's come up with," K interjected as he landed next to them on the wall in his human form having jumped up to the top, "Is that someone has been listening to our conversations and possibly relaying them back to the demon commanders. Now I can't prove that but I believe that one of our undead friends has been compromised and may unwillingly and unknowingly be being used as a listening in point into our conversations."

"So you didn't mention us so we would be off the radar," Lucifer concluded, "Like 141 when they go all black ops on us."

"Right but you all have your own unique sets of powers unlike anything any of us have," K added, "Something unexpected that our enemies won't know how to counter."

"So what the mission then," Janell asked.

"Make your way to the Forest Kingdoms but don't reveal yourselves to the group staying there," K said, "Zar is among them and I want you to observe undetected and see if the demons react to the actions and plans of that group as if they can hear the planning process."

"Basically see if Zar is being used as a bug," Daemon summarized, "I see why you picked us, we can be invisible, vanish any equipment we use, mask our smell, leave no trace of our presence even while we are operating in the area."

"You've got it in one," K replied, "And you might consider taking a break from listening to Price over the next thirty year period where you are are gallivanting around the universes cause that sounded to much like a spec ops commando talking and not the aristocrat that I know."

"Then you don't know him very well," Saetan laughed, "Many times he destroyed whole courts with his deep cover operations."

"Well leave the destroying to Beast," K said, "I left him out of the assignments for a reason. Once you all have identified the bugged individual you can use your powers to trace the link back to the demon listening in then you all and Beast can kill it and cut off their supply of information."

"Sounds like a plan," Lucifer said, "If we are to catch up to them we need to move out now."

"I know," K replied as he pulled four packs out of his cloak and handed each of them one, "Some provisions for the road, it should get you there and back with ease."

"What is it," Daemon asked. K just smiled as he jumped off the wall and disappeared into the city. "I hate it when he does that."

"That makes two of us," Janell added, "Now we need not waste time walking to this castle."

Daemon was about to say no when the world warped around them and they appeared inside a barn in what Daemon assumed was the Castle. Janell was dusting herself off, having landed in a hay-bale, his brother and father had already gone invisible and he and Janell soon followed suit. While invisible the colors of the world were muted and they could see each other because they were all hovering on a gray energy level, were Daemon to drop to a black level then Lucifer would not be able to see him and vice-verse. Next he assigned a portion of his energy to remove and smells that he might leave for sensitive dragon noses and then Daemon cracked open the barn door.

Outside was a stone paved courtyard surrounded by high walls and a shimmering shield dome above the ramparts, Griffen's doing no doubt. Daemon slipped outside followed by the others and they made their way silently to a large wooden door that lead into the castle proper.

_"How do we get through that," _Daemon though to Saetan.

_"We wait, watch and listen," _his father thought back, _"Or we could slip in behind that rather important looking fellow over there."_

Daemon looked in the direction his father indicated to see a graying haired man in a regal robe who was making his way over to the gate. Daemon fell instep behind the man who seemed to notice him but didn't make any moves to reveal them. At this distance it was obvious that the man was quite old for a human, seventy at least. His deep red robe helped to offset the age and made him look more defined than elderly. The man had piercing, knowing eyes, and a stubby nose all surrounded by hastily combed hair and beard.

"Ah Master Warlock," one of the two guards at the gate said, "Harald is expecting you, you no doubt have heard of who has returned?"

"Yes Rupert and Julia," The Warlock said, "And I hear they have the most interesting assortment of friends. Dragons, demons, and a dragon-man. Its the only reason I decided to answer the summons."

_ "Well it seems we are heading into the right place," _Janell commented as they followed the Warlock inside. Through the door was a long stone hall, much like at SaDiablo Hall where Daemon and his family resided when they were not with DC. Only here the walls were lit with oil lamps instead of the soft glow that Janell had enchanted into the walls of their home. The burning oil cast flickering shadows across the floor and walls but the acrid smell of burning was strangely absent. Daemon mentioned this to his brother who flicked a wing towards the ceiling where the smoke was gathering than being drawn away from the hallway and out of the castle.

They turned a corner and entered a more decorated section of the castle that had tapestries of the various major events in the castle's history. One even had Hawk and Fisher in it. Daemon didn't get the chance to study the artwork though as the Warlock waved off their guides and strode over to a door in the hall while muttering something about side doors and the castle changing all the time. They ducked through the door and found themselves in a large room with two tall double doors to their right and a large entrance to another hall on their left. From the twin double doors came the distinctive sound of Diablo's grinding, rumbling voice.

"Ok you four you can stop shadowing me," The Warlock said as he turned and looked right at where they were, "I know you are there."

_"He knew," _Daemon thought.

_"Well then we might as well adapt our plan," _Saetan replied, _"The others, possible demon spies and all don't know why we are here, lets use that to confuse them."_

"And stop doing that, It makes my hair stand on end," The Warlock said.

"Well if you've let us tag along this far I guess we might as well be friendly," Saetan said as he dropped the invisibility around him.

Daemon sighed and followed suit as did Janell and Lucifer. The Warlock looked them over and sighed.

"Only four here I thought there were eight of you," the Warlock muttered, "I must be getting old... or you each have some very powerful energy storage that feels like another person."

"Maybe we are each just two people," Lucifer said.

"So who are you," the Warlock asked, "I assume your with Rupert and Julia."

"That's twice now I've heard those names," Janell said, "But we don't know anyone by them. Unless you mean Hawk and Fisher, they are the ones who came with Diablo, Spyro Griffen and the others."

"Hmm... that would be them then," Warlock replied, "Still I'm not letting you in until I know who you are."

"I am Saetan, this is Daemon, Lucifer and Janell," Saetan replied, "And you are?"

"I've many names, High Warlock, Master Warlock, Warlock, Exile, etc., etc.," Warlock replied, "Any of those will do. Now follow me I'll introduce you to the court."

They passed through the double doors into a round chamber where Hawk, Fisher, Diablo, Spyro, and Griffen were debating with an assortment of various nobles while a man on what looked to be the throne was looking quite exasperated at the whole thing.

"Harald," Warlock yelled over the den of noise, "You called?"

The room got real quite real quick at that.

"Ah the SaDiablo clan arrives," Diablo bellowed, "I figured K would send you all along eventually. Do a friend a favor and mute all these jabbering fools for me."

"Wait they can do that," Hawk asked, "That is the best news I've heard all day."

The assembled nobles all started talking at once sending the room back into chaos, which Diablo loved but made Daemon's ears ring.

"Enough!" Janell yelled as Daemon felt a pulse of energy ripple out from her. The nobles were still moving their mouths but no sound was coming out. "Now, lets try to have some order to this madness."

"My thanks whoever you are," said the man on the throne, "Brother I assume they are with you?"

"Aye," Hawk replied, "Saetan, Daemon, Lucifer and Janell, this is Harald my brother and King of this Castle."

"So what are you all doing here," Griffen asked, "Between my army, Spyro's clan, and the Primes I'm pretty sure we could handle a few demons in a forest."

"It's K," Daemon replied, "He just said go here and then here we are."

"Figures," Diablo laughed, "He was always like that."

"So what are we up against," Lucifer asked.

"Right now a rowdy bunch of nobles who's only accomplishment in life was to be born," Fisher remarked sarcastically. "You seem to have them under control though."

"As nice as the peace and quite is," Warlock said, "You are going to have to let them talk again."

"Why," Janell asked.

"Because whatever type of magic you use is giving me a headache that is worse than the court yelling at each other," Warlock replied.

"Harald," Janell asked, much to Daemon's disappointment.

"Let them go," Harald said, "It will take long enough as it is to get them out of here, even longer if they can't argue with each other."

"What are they arguing about anyways," Saetan asked as he waved for Janell to hold the spell for a moment longer, "It would seem that the situation is clear enough."

"About whose land is going to get assistance from you all first," Harald replied, "Get ready for a firestorm."

Janell dropped the spell and the shouting began again, Daemon spent the next four hours with his ears plugged by magic so that he didn't get a headache like the Warlock. After the court had dispersed he asked, "So who are we helping then?"

"No one," Janell said angrily, "If this were my court..."

"Not everyone has a choice about which nobles they have to herd," Saetan said.

"And not everyone is capable either," Harald said as he pushed himself out of his throne, "I hate that chair."

"I don't get the feeling that you are incompetent," Daemon said.

"No but he is good at acting incompetent," Warlock added.

"Only way you can get anything done around here," Hawk said, "Let the nobles think they have their say then go and do what you are planning anyway."

"That I understand," Daemon said, "I used that trick to bring down many a ruler."

"Then we are in agreement," Harald said, "I need this court to be brought to its knees if we are to retake my lands. Your partners, K and the others, they will be helpful but I need to get the court behind me to do anything useful including helping you."

"We can't just bully them then," Daemon said, "That would make you look weak, or even a tyrant, we need something that will rally them behind you."

"Like a few demon corpses to hang on the walls," Diablo said, "It would make this dreary castle feel more homey."

"For you maybe," Fisher replied.

"Actually that would work," Daemon said, "We go get you some demon corpses, display them where people can see that these creatures do die, use them to show that your strong enough to beat back this blight."

"And get the people on my side," Harald finished, "You've been playing this game for a long time then."

"Only three thousand years," Lucifer said.

"That's... what are all of you immortal," Warlock asked.

"We are now," Fisher replied.

"You'll have to tell me about it later," Harald said, "Right now I need a court under control and you all are my ticket to get it."

"Wait all of us," Daemon asked, "What about your own defenses wouldn't you need to keep some of us here?"

"Griffen and his robots will be enough for here," Hawk said, "I'd rather we have as many of us out there as possible anyways."

_"It seems we are going to get to test Zar for bugs sooner and easier than we thought," _Saetan said.

_"I kinda hope that he is bugged," _Daemon said, _"That way we won't have to travel to any of the other groups and go through this again."_

Character

Marion

Hypatia would have been more impressive, Marion decided, if half of it wasn't a rotting forest filled with demons. She and Jinx were riding AuRon as ha and Natasha surveyed the land below. After they arrived in the city yesterday the entire empire had started preparing for war, with RuGaard and Nilrasha leading them. NooMauk had fallen into an advisory roll, Tala and DharSii had been set up to lead the human forces since she was a citizen of both the dragon empire and Hypatia, Adam and Riza had started up several factories and were building up an army, AuRel, Irene, Zara and Ace were underground rallying the dwarves, the main construction force, and demen, a strange crab-like hominid that acted as a police force for the empire.

She and Jinx volunteered to help scout the forest cause it sounded more interesting than the politics going down in the city, so she was now cold and damp from the altitude and clouds that they were flying through. Jinx didn't seem to mind the cold or the wet, neither did AuRon, Natasha didn't seem cold but she didn't seem to like the damp.

"Check your gear," AuRon said, "I've got eyes on a whole battalion under us."

"Where are they headed," Jinx asked.

"Looks like they are heading towards the city," AuRon replied.

"We can't let them get to the city yet," Natasha said, "RuGaard has not had enough time to marshal the military."

"Then let's take them out DC style," Marion said as she drew her twin crossbows.

"Always the feisty one," AuRon remarked, "My skin may be hard now thanks to K but I'm not for getting shot at."

"We could drop rocks and such on them," Natasha added.

"Oh just drop me off and I'll kill them," Marion said.

AuRon was about to reply when Jinx dashed to his tail and jumped off. Natasha dived after the falling cat as did AuRon after giving Marion a second to get a good hold on him. They broke the cloud layer and saw that Jinx was shimmering, using the same effect that had kept her and Marion from being crushed after being thrown off of Ravalon back on Serra. Marion shouted for AuRon to pull up, that Jinx would be fine, and he must have not only heard her but relayed the message to Natasha as well for both dragons pulled out of their dives. It was then that a rumbling boom echoed out from Jinx and meteors started to fall from the sky killing the demons which the cat landed among.

"What the," Marion muttered.

"I get the feeling that Jinx is more than just a magical cat," AuRon said, "I mean we heard about her powerful voice but actually seeing it... meteors and fade shifting, that cat is a wizard."

When it was safe to land, after the meteors had finished falling and Jinx had finished burning, freezing, or just sucking the life from the demons with nothing but her voice, Marion dropped off of AuRon and into a horror scene. Dead, mutilated, inhuman figures were scattered everywhere, some burnt others melting, others crushed into pulp and still others locked in their death throes from Jinx's life drain.

"There now we don't have to worry about the demons," Jinx remarked as she walked over and rubbed up against Marion's legs.

"What are you," Marion asked as she picked Jinx up and stroked the cat's back and ears as she continued to survey the carnage.

"What I am is a cat," Jinx replied with a purr, "Albeit a very unique one."

"Your a wizard," AuRon said again.

"No," Jinx corrected, "I was a wizard once, and a warrior, a hero and villain, a friend to the poor and a thief to the rich, but what I was and what I am are unrelated issues."

"I'd bet that your hungry," Marion said, "I know I always am after killing demons."

Jinx closed her eyes and yawned before replying, "Mmm yes some warm milk and a hunk of meat does sound nice."

"Well we can definitely report that the demons are moving our direction," Natasha said, "We might as well get back and tell the rest... wait do you hear something?"

Marion listened but Jinx had already picked up on wherever the sound had come from and jumped out of Marion's arms to pace back and forth on the ground. Then Marion heard it, a strange scraping, sucking, sound that gave her the impression of a snake and a squid at the same time. She checked to make sure her bolt drums were cycling properly and were fully loaded, which they were, before crouching down next to Jinx while AuRon and Natasha were back to back and surveying the area.

"How far away do you think it is," Marion asked.

"Far enough that we could leave now and it not get us," Jinx replied after a soft yowl, "But then it will just make it's way to the city. Now though there are no other demons around it that I can detect so if we want an easy shot at it here is that shot."

"Four on one," AuRon remarked, "That's a sound enough advantage that I'm ok with going after it."

"We have no choice now," Marion said as she placed a hand on the ground, "It's picked up its pace and is heading our direction."

"Incoming," Natasha yelled as she dodged a boulder that was thrown at them. Marion followed the trajectory of the boulder back to its source and saw three boney scythes cut down the trees just in front of them. The massive claws were attached to a demon that was part slime and part bone and scale. It's one massive eye blinked once at them from its inky blackness before an assortment of hard and sharp appendages started lashing out at the four.

"Go, fly," Marion shouted at AuRon and Natasha, "Bring help if you can, Jinx follow me we've got to keep it distracted."

Jinx shouted something and the rushing mass of demon slowed its attacks, in fact everything had slowed down except the four of them. AuRon and Natasha had time to get into the air and even dodge another boulder that the demon hurled at them, Marion had time to grab Jinx and then time resumed it's normal speed and Marion took off along the edge of the woods leading the creature away from the under defended city and it's inhabitants.

"So you have a plan I hope," Jinx said

"Not really," Marion replied as she ducked under a swiping claw-arm. "Generally I just hit monsters hard, harder and fast until they drop."

"Great," Jinx remarked as she jumped out of Marion's arm and started to run along side her. "What could you do if I slowed it down again?"

"Other than put a few bolts into it not much," Marion replied, "that's why I sent the dragons back for help."

"For more fire," Jinx said, "I can breath fire you know."

"But it's fast enough to dodge your fire," Marion said.

"Not if it is distracted," Jinx retorted, "Just keep it busy for a second or two and I'll melt it."

Marion nodded her agreement but before she could fire on the demon another monstrosity smashed its way into their path. This creature had four legs two were its main mode of transportation and acted as hands and feet, the other two seemed to only serve the purpose of funneling food into its gaping maw that composed a third of the creatures bulbous body. It had a single glowing orb that seemed to be its eye and two flaps on its body that the creature immediately moved to protect as it and the ooze demon collided.

Marion fired several bolts into the two warring behemoths while Jinx charged up her fire breath. The roaring inferno released from the cat's little jaws was almost as large as the two beasts combined and the ooze demon flailed, sizzled and exploded while the other creature jerked back to keep its vulnerable parts from the blaze. Training her crossbows on the cringing beast Marion unleashed a flurry of bolts three of which pierced the glowing orb causing the newest attacker to start to flail about wildly.

"Looks like you hit the sweet spot," Jinx said, "Here let me finish that off for you." Her fire-breath rushed forth again finishing off the creature. "Now I think we should find somewhere that will be easy for our draconic friends to spot us."

"Agreed and lets try not to attract more demons in the process," Marion remarked.

"Oh its much to late for that," Jinx said, "I can hear the another demon regiment heading this way, probably attracted by the scuffle in the forest with their assault breaker."

"Then we need to find some open ground," Marion replied as she started back the way they had come, "Come on I saw a hill to our west as we ran down this way lets go get up on it."

"This is why I like you," Jinx said, "Your sensible."

"Hey rule number one in a fight is have the high ground," Marion replied as she ducked out of the trees and sprinted across the plain to the hill. "I sure hope that AuRon and Natasha get back here soon."

"And with help," Jinx finished, "The demons are at the forest's edge, how many bolts do you have?"

"Almost two hundred," Marion replied after a quick check, "How many demons do you hear?"

"At least twice that many but probably close to five-hundred," Jinx replied after a few seconds of twitching her ears about. "Any other weapons that you could use?"

"Just my dagger," Marion said after fingering the weapon that Anders had enchanted for her some time back before DC had entered her life and drug her off on this wild adventure.

"You'll see him again," Jinx said softly.

"Am I that easy to read," Marion remarked as the first demons broke through the trees and started to charge the hill. Jinx just purred as she yowled and slowed time down again. Marion started peppering her bolts into the demons with deadly effect. Her bolts didn't last as long as she had hoped, and within ten minutes Marion had drawn and bloodied her dagger. Despite her lack of ammo she and Jinx had dropped between three hundred to three hundred and fifty of these lumbering, club wielding, fat, man-like demons. Jinxirattuholingtonbumin seemed totally unharmed, Marion could feel several wounds throbbing from where she hadn't completely dodged a club or meaty fist but nothing serious, she hoped.

"Incoming," Jinx called as she dropped to the ground from the dying form of a demon she had just sucked the life from. Marion finished off a demon that she was dueling then hit the ground as Riza, Adam, AuRon and Natasha landed around them and started the clean up of the remainders of the demon force.

"Marion, Jinx," Riza called, "I'm glad to see your ok."

"Ok may not be the right term for it but definitely not dead," Marion yelled back with a laugh. The action sent spikes of pain through her chest, causing her to collapse to the ground, "Damnable demons," She gasped as she touched a bruise that was low on her chest, "Broke some ribs."

Jinx crawled over to her and lay down as their friends cleared the area, "Murtagh and Thorn just landed in the city, we can get them to patch you up."

"What no healing breath," Marion joked.

"Not while I'm like this," Jinx replied sadly as the white cat looked her over, "Back before this I could have healed you."

Marion looked into Jinx's eyes and saw the flicker of some emotion before it was buried behind a paw that came up to get washed. It took another five minutes to clear the remaining demons that fled back into the woods, five minutes that Marion spent breathing very carefully so as to not disturb the broken ribs. She suppressed a cry as Adam picked her up but the robotic man carried her all the way back to the city, a two hour walk on foot as he was, without so much as jostling her when he had to jump over a fallen tree or creek. AuRon, Natasha and Riza flew back to tell Murtagh and Thorn about the need for their services, and thus when they entered the Hypatian capital the two were already waiting for them. Murtagh muttered something that Marion didn't catch then she felt an itching racing through her chest along the broken ribs and after it had dissipated she could breath deeply again without the jarring pain.

"Thanks," She said as Adam set her down.

"It was nothing," Thorn replied, "But now we must head back to K. I believe that the trident is ready to be thrust."

"Good," Marion replied, "I've some demons to kill."

Character Eragon/Saphira

After K had dispersed DC he had set the riders and their dragons as the communication lines between the three fronts. Ha and Saphira were on their way to the Forest Kingdoms to give the all clear to Hawk and Fisher for the attack to begin. As they glided over the terrain he and Saphira picked out various land forms that they recognized from a good five hundred years earlier in their home planet's history. They had spent a good deal of time in this part of the world as they rebuilt the riders, which while now changed, was an order that still endured even in this dragon ruled empire that controlled most of the world.

_"It's like the magic of our world has been drained,"_ Saphira commented as they flew over an old tower that used to be a home to the riders.

_"Aye,"_ He replied, _"Drained... or corrupted. This Dark-wood is proof that magic still exists here, as are those Beings in Haven and the Lavadome." _

_"True,"_ she agreed, _"But here we are so shall we get back to the war and leave the philosophy for later?" _

He laughed as they landed inside the castle as Griffen lowered the shields and greeted them with a "How goes the day?"

"Better now that K and his forces have reached their side of the Dark-wood," Eragon replied, "He says to start making your way west to RuGaard's empire."

"We will head out as soon as Hawk and Fisher get done with subduing some unruly nobles," Griffen replied, "Are you two heading out with us or...?"

"K wants us to meet up with him again and serve as advanced scouts as he carves a path through the Dark-wood to the demon gate," Eragon answered, "Only one thing that bothers me about this is the other gates were large but we've flown over the woods and there is no sign of a gate."

"That's cause the gate is an it," Zar said as he, the SaDiablos and Beast walked in from the woods and into the courtyard.

"Turns out our fiery, blue friend here had been bugged," Daemon said, "We took care of that but there was something else out there, it took all of us just to keep it back. I think the gate is housed within a demon."

"I thought I was the fiery, blue friend," Saphira said.

"You certainly have a personality and are blue," Beast rumbled as he stretched and sent bursts of fire out from his body, "But you are not fiery as some of us can claim."

Saphira let loose a gout of blue fire-breath in response before Eragon intervened. "Enough you two. If the gate is a demon then wouldn't killing the demon close the gate?"

"It should," Hawk grunted as he, Fisher, Spyro and Mephisto walked out of the castle, "Unfortunately this particular demon has been killed many times before and still keeps coming back. Last time I killed him myself, only problem is you can't kill something that was never born."

"What," Eragon and Saphira asked.

"The Prince of Darkness was never born, or at least there is no record of him ever being born," Fisher explained, "The first record of him here comes from almost four thousand years ago. Before that they say he ruled a nation on the other side of the mountains to the west, where RuGaard's empire now sits, before that who knows."

"Wait a minute," Eragon said, "This demon is he mostly human?"

"Yeah except for the eyes and the translucent skin," Hawk confirmed.

_"You don't think," _Saphira thought to him.

_"It's possible plus who else would have access to magic that could even hold all of them back," _Eragon replied.

_"Should we tell the others,"_ Saphira asked.

_"Yes," _Eragon said, _"You take care of that I'll explain it to our friends here." _Then to the others who were now looking at them, "We may know who this 'Prince' is. Thousands of years ago, back when we were young, there existed an empire right at the heart of the area that RuGaard's now expands from. Its ruler was a rider named Galbatorix, he had lost his dragon and gone mad but was still cunning and intelligent to trick another rider into betraying the order and stealing for him another dragon which he twisted to his will. After a bloody war he established himself as emperor and ruled with an iron fist while he delved into the workings of magic. Through a long and complicated series of events Saphira and I ended up together and with the help of Murtagh and Arya were able to overthrow the mad king, but not before he learned the name of the language of magic."

Eragon stopped to clear his throat and Saphira picked up. "This name gave him control over reality itself, fortunately Murtagh had been captured by Galbatorix and had also learned this name. When the fight came to a head with the king Murtagh used the name and caused enough of a distraction for Eragon, myself, Murtagh, Thorn and several other dragons who are dead now to pour our memories of what he had done to the riders, the empire, and the land into the emperor's mind finally causing him to snap. We thought him dead, but he may have not died, he could have instead of incinerating himself used the name to teleport himself across the world. The kicker is this all happened about the time that this Dark Prince shows up in the history over in this part of the world."

"So we are dealing with an ancient, mad, reality bending, ex-dragon rider and king," Mephisto summarized, "Great."

"Yeah sounds like we hit the jackpot," Spyro added, "But if Hawk could beat this guy and you two beat him before then we could do it again."

"Hawk how did you defeat this 'Prince' last time he was here anyway," Beast asked.

"A rainbow sword," Hawk replied, "Struck him down with pure magical force."

"You mean the wild magic," Eragon asked as a cold settled into his gut.

"Yeah what of it," Fisher replied.

"That will have only made him stronger in this incarnation," Saphira said, "Even with his reality bending words he should not have been able to stand against the six of you."

"How powerful is he then," Janell asked, "I threw tons of magical energy against his attacks to stave them off, but neither of us seemed to have a limited reserve."

"Hitting Galbatorix with a pure beam of wild magic," Eragon muttered as he rubbed his temples, "It would be like giving him that rainbow jewel of Janell's both create their own energy. We have to be able to wear him out faster than he can replenish his reserves."

"We can do that," Hawk said, "Fisher and I are immune to magic, I assume this name he has uses quite a lot of energy when he says it. So we get him to use it on us while the rest of you keep him from regenerating with attacks of your own."

"Immune to magic, right from when you fought him the first time," Zar said, "and does he use any other kind of attack?"

"Not that we know of," Hawk said.

"He has training with a sword," Eragon added, "though from the histories he was not the best swordsman in the order."

_"The others are now aware of the situation," _Saphira thought to Eragon, _"Arya says to be cautious. I will keep them informed as we draw up our plan."_

Eragon filed Saphira's mind speech away for later as he thought about the implications of Hawk and Fisher's immunity to magic studiously for the first time.

"Even before he transformed," Eragon said, "Galbatorix's main power was getting into the minds of his opponents, that ability however is also magical in nature and may not work on you two. If you would allow me to try to enter your minds we can find out for certain."

Hawk and fisher looked at each other, Fisher shrugged and Hawk nodded. Eragon first attempted to enter their minds as he would a normal persons but could not. Then Saphira added her strength to his probe and still they could not even feel Hawk and Fisher, it was as if they were a void in the world.

"I can not even detect your minds," Eragon said after a few more attempts from different angles., "it would seem impossible to affect you two with any form of magic, you think you could kill Galbatorix if we can keep the melee off of you?"

"Weapons don't even break the skin of the Prince of Darkness," Fisher said, "We tried that once before."

"What about weapons that have been enchanted with your own resilience to magic by the most skilled magic weaver of the Primes," Mephisto asked offhandedly.

"A weapon that is immune to magic like Hawk and Fisher here would be able to cut right through whatever wards surround Galbatorix," Saphira said, "They could tear him apart."

"And your saying you can do this," Saetan said to Mephisto, "Can you do it on the move because we need to head out the rest of our company has gathered at the western edge of the castle and are ready to move out."

"That I can," Mephisto replied, "Come on then, we've got some killing to do."

"We will rejoin you when and if we can," Eragon said as he jumped onto Saphira's back landing neatly between her spikes, "K is still depending on us to provide over watch for the trident. If you find Galbatorix, Beast you can just wave us down and we will come."

With that Saphira launched herself into the sky. As they circled above the Castle they could watch the others assemble and then move out. Eragon informed Arya and Murtagh of their position as they made their way through the Dark-wood. Theirs was an easy trail to follow, Beast stood well above even the largest trees. The overall plan was for the three sections of DC to meet up in the middle, or heart, of the woods where the rest would drop in from space to finish off the gate that would most likely be hidden at the heart. As with most plans though the situation soon started to show signs that not everything was as it should be.

The demons, who originally were throwing themselves at DC with their usual enthusiasm, had back off and started to coalesce into a unified and organized force. Then Murtagh's group got bogged down as flying demons took control of the skies and forced them to move under cover of anti-air fire. Arya then contacted him saying that she had lost all contact with K's ground group. Saphira snorted and Eragon ran his hands through his hair.

_"How did we know that this Trident of K's would fall apart," _Saphira said.

_"Because all our plans do that," _Eragon replied, _"Lets just worry about Galbatorix and getting to the heart of the forest then we can worry about K and his crew. After all they are plenty capable of dealing with any surprises along the way." _


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21 If You Want to Live a Little; You Have to Get Out of the Library

Character Sparta/Alexandria

Flyn flew his flying fortress of a helicopter through the portal opened by Hadriel to Bad Company's location. Sparta and Alexandria followed him through a moment later and found themselves on the beach to the east of Warfang where Bad Co. two other humans, a green skinned, bearded, fanged hominid and another purple dragon were discussing some topic of great importance in fast, raised voices that sounded like a shouting match was about to break out. The commotion stopped as the blades from Flyn's chopper became fully corporal and a rhythmic thumping started up that seemed to beat in time with their own wing strokes.

"Sounds like we arrived just in time," Sparta rumbled as they came in to land, "Red mind introducing us to your new friends?"

"I know you two," the other larger purple dragon said, "Alexandria sister to Malafor, and Sparta her husband now I guess. I am Orthino first of our order."

"Orthino," Alexandria greeted, "I remember you, what woke you from your vigil... oh right."

"Yeah that would be us," Haggard said, "The other three here are Grishnake, or Grish. He is an Orc-werewolf, Lydia, his vampire wife and Serana another vampire and friend of theirs."

"Hey guys hows it going," Flyn greeted as he and Hadriel exited the helicopter.

"Flyn good to have you back," Preston said.

"Yeah and you too Hadriel," Red added, "Your just in time to help us figure out how to deal with Malafor from the past."

"What," the four of them asked in unison.

"Look we went through a rift in time to stop elementals from coming through and ran in to evil Malafor," Sweets explained, "Now he is sending his army through the same rift that is under Warfang and will come through himself once he gets enough of a force built up under the city. We've already got Chris, Veronica, and Malcolm evacuating the city but we can't just let Malafor take it."

"Agreed," Sparta replied, "So you all were arguing about the plan of attack then."

"We were about to," Serana said sarcastically, "Then you showed up and spoiled all the fun."

"What she means is thanks," Grish added, "We could use some cooler, less fishing deprived heads to sort this mess out."

"Amen," Redford said, "I can't believe we haven't got to go fishing yet."

"If this is the same Malafor that we know only before we met him," Hadriel mused, "Then anything we do will change time and affect the present. For instance if we can convince him to join us and then wait until K comes in to join up with DC then we might be able to recreate this world from the past."

"You mean we would be able to change the events of the past and it would carry over into our present," Orthino said, "Oh... oh that is good. We could have Malafor build up this world instead of tearing it down. Only thing is how far would the changes affect those we know? Would Spyro and Cynder still get together, would K end up here at all, would Malafor join the Primes and show them the deception they were under?"

"I see you've been busy explaining the past to Orthino here," Hadriel commented, "But no the effects would only be in their memories, instead of the one set they have now, they would end up with two sets of memories. Their original and the new ones from our tampering. This world would also be affected because he occupied such a long stretch of its history, but outside of that there will be no adverse side effects."

"Well then it sounds like its about time we turned the tables on my brother," Alexandria said, "You said this rift was underneath Warfang, in the old tunnels?"

"Yeah," Hags confirmed, "Right across a lava moat."

"Well that won't stop him," Sparta said.

"It stopped us," Orthino replied, "Or me at least."

"Yeah but Malafor has always been highly resistant to fire," Alexandria added, "Lava would be a minor annoyance for him."

"So I guess its back to plan A," Sweets said, "Flyn you ready for some fancy flying?"

"Always," Flyn replied.

"Whats plan A," Hadriel asked.

"We crush Malafor to the ground under the chopper," Lydia said, "You think it is big enough?"

"A space ship would be better I think but the helicopter should be heavy enough," Grish replied.

"Bad Co. you guys get with Flyn and man the guns," Sparta said, "Orthino, Alexandria and I will lure Malafor out of the city where you can land on his back. Grish you three look like you can handle yourselves, see if you can't link up with Chris, Ve and Malcolm to hold back the tide of elementals from rampaging through the city."

"On it," Serana said, "Finally something interesting."

"Anyone mind giving us a lift," Grish asked.

"Hop on," Sparta replied, "Lets get Warfang ready for... visitors."

About a half hour later Grishnake and his companions were set up outside the partially collapsed tunnel entrance, Flyn was in the air with Bad Co. on board, Orthino was concealed behind a pile of rubble that had been drug over to help barricade the tunnel, and Sparta and Alexandria were prominently displayed on two buildings that were on either side of the tunnel. Their job was to get Malafor to fly up and out of the city where Flyn could land the chopper on him and drive him to the ground. Once that was done Bad Co. would head back inside and help to keep the elementals out of Warfang with Grish Co., Ve, Chris, and Malcolm's assembled troops. Hadriel was with Orthino and they were to fly up behind Malafor after he was out of the city hopefully giving Flyn the time he needed to land on Malafor.

_"Here's hopping that this works,"_ Alexandria thought to Sparta as the sounds of the first elementals leaked through the tunnel entrance.

He just snorted from his perch atop the building to her right, then they both readied themselves to lay down some covering fire until Malafor came through. Malafor was obviously taking a siege breaker approach because the first four elementals to come out of the tunnel were all of the highest caliber and rune enhanced. A fire, ice, earth, and wind elemental, all of them shaped like a cross between a dog and a hominid, but with their bodies constructed out of the element they represented, emerged from the tunnel and were immediately blasted by a combination of spells, arrows and bullets. After the elementals shrugged off the weaker attacks, Alexandria blasted them with her energy breath, breaking down the magic that held them together.

A roar followed by "Impossible!" alerted them that Malafor was near the entrance.

"He knows I'm here now," Alexandria said to warn the others that her attack alerted Malafor to her presence.

"Clear the streets," Grish called from below, signaling for them to take cover behind something while Malafor came out. Chris and Ve would wait until Malafor was in the air before revealing themselves to the elementals, providing the extra power to hold the line in Sparta and Alexandria's absence.

A large purple paw smashed through some of the derbies that was constricting the tunnel entrance and then Malafor was through. The expression of shock then anger then something else passed across his face at the sight of Sparta and Alexandria.

"Hello brother," she greeted before blasting a light spray of energy at him and taking off, with Sparta close behind.

Malafor called his elementals out of the tunnel before following them into the sky. They maneuvered so it would appear to Malafor that he was driving them out of the city, when in-fact they were luring him out. As soon as he passed over the wall in his chase Orthino and Hadriel launched themselves into the air and came up behind him as silent as the void.

"Well hello there," Hadriel called to Malafor who turned around then hovered in place at the shock of seeing the two of them. Then Flyn dropped out of a cloud and landed right on Malafor's back causing the purple dragon to lose his ability to stay aloft. After a short struggle against the weight of the helicopter Malafor loosed a beam of entropic energy at Orthino before gliding to the ground. Orthino dodged the attack and then he and Hadriel joined with Sparta and Alexandria as they landed behind Malafor, who was still trying to throw the massive flying fortress off of his back.

"Clam yourself little one," Orthino said, "We are not here to kill you."

Malafor turned his head so he could see them but could not line up a shot at them, "What trick is this," he asked, "All of you are dead, have been dead for hundreds of years."

"Thousands now actually," Alexandria replied, "You've come forward in time to about the year four-thousand."

"Yeah you were quite the terror until their kid stopped you, and then K recruited you," Haggard interjected.

"Hags weren't you...," Sparta started.

"Yeah but I decided to stay here and talk some sense into Mal here," Hags replied. "Listen big guy, I know its nice and all to be super powerful, heck I can be at times with this old girl," Hags continued as he hefted the Pyrolauncher, "But that don't mean you go to control the world or even hang onto that power all the time. When was the last time you were able to just lay back and enjoy the day without all the fuss of ruling a world?"

"You," Malafor said, "You know me but a me from a different future. Orthino your messing with time here, even I didn't go that far. I just want to recreate this world not the universe."

"Actually your already helping to do that," Hadriel replied, "Right now the future you is out about somewhere helping some friends of ours to save some world somewhere, or at least that is the most likely thing you are doing."

"I'm what," Malafor said, "I won't be soon, that future can't happen now."

"On the contrary it can and does and has," Orthino replied, "I get it now, because the future you helps to create this event both time lines have to exist in parallel otherwise this event wouldn't happen. Why didn't I see that before?"

"Not enough experience with time travel I'd guess," Hags said, "Take a trip with the Doctor and you'll get an ear full about time and such."

Malafor gave a roar as he tried to throw the chopper off of him again with no success. "It seem you have me well and truly stuck. Why don't you just go ahead and finish me off."

"Cause we aren't here to kill you we need your help," Sparta said.

"Good luck with that," Malafor snarled, "Ask all you want I'm not helping you."

"That's why we ain't going to ask," Hags said, "We ain't even going to tell you to help, but ask yourself this, with all the power you've accumulated all the creatures at your beck and call, when was the last time you were happy?"

"This morning when I found that rift," Malafor said quickly.

"Really," Alexandria said as she picked up on Hags approach, "happy or just excited, and what type of excitement was it a joyful kind or and apprehensive kind? Come on brother I know you better than that."

"You need not answer," Hadriel said as Malafor huffed, "I can feel your army retreating back through the rift."

"Damn," Malafor said, "Can't even give in unexpectedly can I, Ow what was that for?"

"That was for cursing," Hadriel said as he retracted his wing tentacle from its strike.

"An angle then," Malafor commented, "I hope you aren't the preachy kind."

"Not really," Flyn called as he took the chopper up off of Malafor's back at Orthino's signal, "I'm usually doing that."

"Besides you won't be around here long enough to listen to any," Sparta said, "Your going back through that rift and will use your command of the creatures of this world to build it up instead of tear it down."

"So that is your plan," Malafor muttered, "Strange as it is I actually am thinking that that might, might mind you, be one of your less retarded ideas."

"Seems people never do change," Sparta said, "Your still the same little dragon your were when we were growing up, then again so am I, just tempered with boring logic and reason."

"Hey and in about two thousand years tell K to drop by and pick us up if he can," Hags said, "It will make sense later."

"You want to go already," Orthino asked.

"Not really but I get nervous when K is out there with out me to watch him," Haggard replied, "He might pass up a good opportunity to blow something up."

"Well Red and I are going fishing then," Orthino said, " Who wants to go, I'm pretty sure that our troubles here are past for now."

"I have never been fishing," Hadriel said, "I would very much like to see how it is done."

Three days later Alexandria, Sparta, Chris, Ve, Orthino, Bad Co., Grish Co., Flyn, Hadriel and even Malcolm were lounging by a lake that had formed in the aftermath of the breaking then rebuilding of their world, which was now filled with towns and cities from Malafor's efforts in the past. The temple was a sprawling complex that connected to Warfang, and there were two other major cities one named Sparta and the other Alexandria, a testament to her brothers enduring change.

"I got one," Redford called as he reeled in a huge fish that was three feet long.

"Careful that's a Pop fish," Sparta warned but he was to late as the fish made a pop sound and a gout of water shot out of its mouth and hit Red in the face. "Well I warned you."

"Thanks," Red said as he wrung his hat out while the others were chuckling at his soggy state, "But I'll have the last laugh, how do these guys cook?"

Character Johnson

What started out as a great defense of the town of Mercy quickly turned into a rout as the millions of burning undead simply surrounded the city. Delta was able to buy enough time to get the residents into the massive carrier but even with the influx of Johnson's other battleships and the remaining ground units the town was lost. They were now hunkered down behind the defenses of the bases that the ACUs had left for them. Johnson and Throon were furiously entering new orders for the robotic systems to implement. Their first concern was the resources but they also had to balance their resource preservation with the defense of the base. The carrier and other ships had repositioned to the ocean again, safe from the undead hoard for now.

"We need those mounted guns," Throon said, "I don't care how much you think the improved turrets will help having more guns that are mounted on our resource buildings will save more facilities."

"Look we can afford to loose a few outer mining stations," Johnson countered, "Most of our resources are produced withing our defended boarder, which would be even more protective if we improved the turrets first."

"Adding the guns to our already existing factories was a huge bonus," Throon pointed out, "How much more will guns on our resource facilities benefit us?"

"Fine have it your way," Johnson conceded, "Upgrade the facilities."

Throon nodded and entered the orders to the construction matrix. Johnson looked out the window to see nano-clouds envelop the near by resources leaving behind anti air and anti ground turrets on them. Johnson resigned himself to acknowledge that Throon was right, again. The Locust leader had proven his ability and experience time and again as they had coordinated the operation of the bases.

"How many are out there," Throon asked.

"Oh about thirty new turrets," Johnson replied.

"No I mean undead," Throon clarified.

"Oh I've no idea," Johnson said, "Probably billions. We've only seen human undead so far but if it spreads to your peoples' dead then trillions."

Throon nodded again before pressing more buttons, "I'll start work on some bigger guns then."

"That's what I was saying," Johnson commented.

"No I mean some really big ones," Throon said, "I've overridden the protocols for unit design, and we can now order units to be built according to our designs not just the prearranged selection. I've also come across a huge history of filled units that are no longer in use due to... political reasons."

"Here let me see that," Johnson said as he walked over to the circular, holographic, console, "Oh wow, check out some of these units... whoa what is that."

Johnson was pointing to a large, angular, human shaped, unit whit a description of AAC.

"Hmm that is the Advanced Arm Commander, file says the unit was filed as defunct after the Infinite War was resolved with the dissolving of the Core, an opposing force to humanity, home-world and its 'Encoder.'

"Very cryptic," Johnson said, "can we make it?"

"I think so," Throon said, "It uses the same materials that our current structures and units use, but it may take some time to build... unless we drain our reserves and have all our construction units assist in creating it."

"I normally wouldn't agree to that but if we can put those resources to use before the storage facilities are overrun by undead," Johnson contemplated, "Ah blarg it, do it."

Throon pressed the commands to have their construction units assemble the AAC then nodded to Johnson saying, "We may want to watch this it will be the fastest build so far."

They walked out of the land factory that had become their home-base and over to the gantry, the only factory big enough to produce the AAC. Their construction bots were already gathered around the large, square, factory and were streaming in resources with their nano-cloud technology. As Johnson and Throon watched the glowing, skeletal, framework for the AAC light up the gantry and even stood slightly taller than the hundred foot tall building. As construction progressed the framework was filled in with metal that was arranged into various components by the nanobots. Throon pulled up a hand-held device that he used to monitor the reserves.

"Our metal reserves are doing fine actually but the energy is dropping faster than I expected," Throon said after a moment looking at the display. "We are down to eighty percent of our metal reserves and fifty-five percent of our energy."

"Well looking at the progress made so far I'd say the build is fifty percent complete," Johnson remarked, "Our reserves should outlast it."

The AAC was definitely entering the last half of construction as the outer plating began to cover up the inner workings of the machine, starting at the feet and slowly working its way up to the head over the course of the next ten minutes. Then the construction stopped and the AAC was finished, but it wasn't doing anything. It didn't even move out of the gantry.

"Well that's not good," Johnson said, "How are we going to get it out of the gantry?"

Throon flipped through some displays on his device before answering, "It seems that this unit has to be driven manually. The original creators of this unit had a factory that would allow a person to get into and out of the AAC, a structure that we lack."

"Right then," Johnson said as he tossed a radio ear-bud to Throon, "I'm going up there, you look up how this thing drives and talk me through it."

"Now that's plan," Throon replied as he clipped the ear-bud next to his 'ear' of the drum that acted like an ear for Locust anyways.

Johnson jumped up to on of the arms of the gantry then to the top of the building then to the head of the AAC. Looking around he saw a door in the back that allowed access to the control center for the unit. Inside was a chair that was surrounded by wires and covered with plugs.

"Throon where do all these wires plug into," Johnson asked, "There is a chair here with more connections than a fancy flat-screen TV."

"Give me a minute to pull up those schematics," Throon replied. The next five were spent wrestling with wires and plugs until all the ports in the command chair were connected. "And that should be the last one. Now this unit looks like it has a telepathic interface so you think what you want it to do and it will react."

"Well that will make piloting it easier," Johnson replied, "Stand back and cross your fingers." He sat down in the chair and immediately the pyramid shaped room light up with screens, displays, and a view of what was outside. Johnson decided to test this new unit in small increments, like raising the arms up out of the gantry.

"Careful," Throon said through the radio.

Johnson ignored him for the moment as he successfully raised the arms. Next he tried looking around, which also worked just fine.

"Ok I'm going to walk it out of the gantry," Johnson said, "Order the other units out of the area."

"Done," Throon replied, "Go ahead and try it."

Johnson thought about the machine walking forward, out of the gantry, and the AAC walked right out of the gantry and stopped as soon as it was out. Johnson though about walking over to the land factory that they came from and the unit did just that.

"It seems that much of this system is self determining," Johnson said over the radio, "I think I'm going to try and build something with it, got any ideas from those old files you found?"

"Yeah try a Core K-bot lab," Throon replied, "From the data on that unit it can build units from both of the old warring factions."

As soon as Johnson though about building the lab one of the displays pulled up a map of the area with the various buildings that were already in place, as well as information on the resources at its disposal and the build speeds of itself and the lab that it was to build, along with many other figures like the cost in metal and energy for the lab, its overall durability etc. etc. Johnson picked a spot that was towards the coast and the AAC walked that way avoiding any units that came across its path as it went.

"Throon," Johnson said, "This thing... is awesome!"

"Good we could use some awesome," Throon said, "One of our scout aircraft just reported sightings of Locust undead with the Human undead."

"So we have trillions of undead to kill then," Johnson said, "I hope Fenix has found some recruits to train as paladins then. Ok the lab is finished, ah construction bots, I'll order some of those."

Character Ezio

"So your Lyndon," Ezio said as he looked over the lightly, but strategically, armored man who was standing before them. Lyndon had black hair that was cut short, beard stubble and a mustache that came straight out on either side of his rounded nose. His eyes were bright and filled with an experienced spark that told of the many adventures that Lyndon and his nasty looking bow that had a literal windstorm swirling around it, had been on.

"Indeed, indeed," Lyndon said as he ushered Ezio, Leah, Cain, Lil, and Beth inside his home. "And you must be that buyer that Beth here assured me would offer more than the rabble of folks that I usually deal with."

"I certainly hope so," Ezio replied, "How much is the current bid?"

"Five thousand gold," Lyndon said, "I could live very well on five thousand gold, but I'd rather not sell this particular scabbard to the scoundrel that bid on it."

Ezio had turned in the contract for the crazy sorcerer and was rewarded with a seven thousand gold bounty and he was allowed to keep the wand.

"How high do you think this buyer could go if he wanted to," Lil asked.

"Its Nigel," Lyndon said, "He was never a very good thief I'd wager that he probably is betting with all he's got to get this artifact."

"So six thousand gold would trump his bet then," Ezio said.

"Oh yes," Lyndon replied but I can't just sell it to you out right you've got to be present at the auction to out bid anyone else who would be eligible to place a bid."

"Isn't the auction today," Beth asked.

"It is so being there should not be a problem," Lyndon replied follow me and I'll get you into the roster for the bidding."

They left the small, but neatly kept, wooden house of Lyndon's and headed into the stoney, rainy, crowded streets of Kingsport. Lyndon guided them with expert precision through the maze of soggy people until they reached a relatively uncrowded area where he ducked into a doorway. Through the door was a small room with a stone floor and timber walls. A man with rudimentary glasses was sitting behind a desk and glanced up at them as they entered.

"Ah more people who want in on your auction is it, Lyndon," The man asked, "Oh Lil, Beth my apologies I did not recognize you at first."

"Hey Gordon," Beth greeted, "Yeah we're just watching its our friend here who is doing the biding."

"Which one, grandpa, the hotty, or whitey," Gordon replied with a laugh.

"That would be whitey," Ezio said as he suppressed the urge to punch the man.

"Whitey it is then," Gordon agreed, "Head on in with Lyndon the rest of you this way."

Ezio followed Lyndon through a set of doors at the back of the room while Gordon led the others through a set of doors behind the desk. He found himself in a large room where tables were set up at regular intervals and were filled with two or three patrons each.

"I'd find a spot to sit if I were you the auction will start soon now that I am here," Lyndon advised before making his way to the stage where the scabbard was displayed behind a protective glass barrier and a magical ward.

Ezio got a seat at a table with a tall, lanky, man and a shorter stockier woman. The woman just nodded to him but the man struck up a conversation.

"You here to bid on that scabbard," the man asked Ezio.

"Possibly," Ezio replied.

"Well be careful," the man added, "Nigel has the highest bet so far and he doesn't take kindly to being out done."

"I'll remember that," Ezio said as Lyndon came out on the stage at the back of the room.

"Welcome everyone to the last day of bidding for the Thieves Guild Auctions," Lyndon announced, "We have even more betters here today so watch your items if you really want them. We will start off with the biggest prize for the day so that those who are here for no other reason can go home after they lose to Nigel's five-thousand gold bet from yesterday!"

That brought out a round of complaints from most of the people who were there and several of them left right then, Ezio however threw in his bid of six-thousand gold.

"Well, well, looks like Nigel has been out done, six-thousand gold from one of the new guys no less," Lyndon continued as he played up the action.

"Seven thousand," Came a reply from a table across the room from Ezio as a skinny but wiry man dropped a bag of gold on the table.

_"Crap," _Ezio thought, _"That's my limit, but I've still got this wand..." _"I'll match that and throw in an enchanted wand." Ezio said.

"Oh sweetening the pot with barter as well," Lyndon said, "As the auctioneer and owner of the disputed item that sounds like a mighty nice arrangement, Nigel?"

"I call a duel," Nigel shouted, "I think that wand is just a twig and I'll prove it and its owner are worthless."

"Accepted," Ezio replied.

"Clear the tables then," Lyndon said, "It seems that today might be interesting after all."

A few minutes later and the tables had been moved to the side of the room and the patrons had gathered around the outer edges to watch the duel. Nigel was at one end of the square room fingering a long dagger. Ezio was just standing on his own side waiting for Lyndon to call the fight to a head.

"Go," Lyndon called and the two started moving.

Nigel moved fast, but Ezio started off at a more reserved pace waiting for his lanky opponent to make his first and last move. Ezio, while dangerous in combat was even more dangerous when he was counterattacking. Nigel took his slow approach for a weakness and charged in swinging for Ezio's heart. In a flash the dagger was buried in the ground and both of Ezio's hidden blades had been driven into Nigel's heart and skull. The man died instantly, blood-lust grin still on his face.

"I believe that makes me the winner of the scabbard," Ezio remarked as he looked at Lyndon.

"I... indeed it does," Lyndon replied, "Well we all knew that Nigel was more bark than bite anyway."

Lyndon beckoned Ezio to the stage where he opened the case with a key and handed him the scabbard and took the gold and wand in return. He then whispered, "If you have a moment I'd like to talk to you."

Ezio nodded as he left the stage to join the others in a room above the auction pit. Leah was the first to greet him, Deckard took the scabbard and started to study it with Lil, Beth was still watching the remaining auctions. They were the only ones in the room as after the scabbard had been won the other onlookers left. It was smaller than the auction room but was warmer since the fireplace chimney acted as one of the walls and radiated heat into the chamber.

"That was most impressive," Leah said as they sat down next to Beth.

"I try to make my kills as quick and painless as possible," Ezio replied.

"Yeah but we didn't even see you move," Bethany added, "You were like a flicker."

"That's the result of the last artifact like this that I came across," Ezio said, "Faster than eye reactions."

"Most interesting," Cain muttered from behind them, "I'm going to head over to the library and study this further, I'll meet you all at the inn tonight."

"Be careful uncle," Leah called, "And don't get lost."

"Think he will be ok," Lil asked.

"Yeah," Leah replied, "After the tale we heard about what he has been up to the last twenty years... I'm not worried."

"Ah there you are," Lyndon said as he came in, "What already lost the scabbard?"

"No Cain has it," Ezio replied, "He is studying it."

"Hmmf, Scholars," Lyndon chuckled, "Look after seeing you take Nigel down like that I was wondering if you could help me out."

"So I kill a man and now you fell like telling me your life's problems," Ezio said, "If I can get that gold back from it then continue."

"Deal," Lyndon exclaimed, "Ok the situation is this, I'm not actually in the Thieves Guild cause its what I do, I'm in it cause my brother works, or worked rather in the guard and we were cracking down on the guild. However our last job went bad and now my brother is in jail, accused of being in league with the Guild. You, however, seem to have the skills to get the authorities to release him."

"Sounds like a dirty politician wanted your brother out of the way," Leah remarked, "I'm in if it means we can take out one of those haughty scum."

"Sounds like a better way to pass the time than being drooled over by Gordon over there," Bethany added, "What do say sis shall we?"

"Most definitely," Lilith replied.

"Ok then," Ezio said, "Lyndon, take us to this jail. Lil, Beth go and get any dirt you can from the guard commander, that should lead us to the higher up who wanted to pin up a good cop."

"Oh so you and Leah can be alone in the jail," Lil laughed, "Don't get to preoccupied down there. We will meet you back at the inn tonight."

"Seems like you've got their attention," Lyndon said as he caught the redness of both their faces, "The only way to get them to stop is to go up a level, just in case you were wondering."

"What we no, that's, I mean," Ezio and Leah sputtered.

"Oh ho, so you do like each other," Lyndon said, "I might want to stick around just to see if those two jokers get it in the end."

"Just take us to this jail," Ezio said, "And get Leah her bow back."

Character Qui-gon Jinn

"There we go," Qui-gon said as the last of the camp was cleared off of Zora's back and the golden dragon rose up out of the pit she was in.

"My thanks little ones," Zora said, "Now I believe your looking for a way to get to K."

"Indeed we are," Gandalf said from Qui-gon's left, "But how could you know of K and the events of the outside world?"

"Through several different means, Storm is one since she has died before, Ace is another, Sparta and Alexandria are two more," Zora replied, "Ace is the only one I can talk with through the energies of the worlds but I can get bits and pieces from the others minds, especially Storm. Its like she knows what I am looking for."

"She probably does," Qui-gon commented, "Your daughter can see through time."

"I wonder, why did you not reveal yourself while DC was here helping us beat back Morgoth's invasion," Legolas asked.

"I was not here at the time," Zora answered, "My body here was still building, and I was helping Ace get ready for when K would arrive."

"Who is Ace," Gimli questioned.

"Another dragon who is dead no longer," Zora said, "Now he is helping K and through him we will know when and where to appear. However we will still need someone who can read that scroll for I can not create the portals that DC uses to travel across time and space."

"So we need to hunt and capture another dragon," Gimli said, "Well that is just great."

"Think of as a chance to overcome my lead in kills," Legolas said.

"Aye that I will," Gimli replied, "And where is our kingly friend, other than Shadowfax of course."

"Aragorn is remaining at the capital," Gandalf answered, "Even with his heritage, his age is catching up to him, and his son and wife want him there not out here endangering himself."

"I'll miss his strong blade at my back," the dwarf said.

"And what are we then," Qui-gon commented, "My light-saber is as powerful as any blade and Zora here is certainly stronger than any of us."

"Why thank you for the kind words," Zora said.

"Still I know what you mean," Qui-gon finished.

"Well we are wasting daylight," Gandalf stated, "We need to find someone who can read this scroll. I recall Frodo speaking of someone who he met in his travels, one old enough to command the eldest of magic, that lived near the Shire."

"Shall we pay the good Hobbit a visit then," Legolas asked, "It has been to long since we've seen him."

"Is this Shire far from here," Zora asked, "I do not have a good picture of the layout of the lands here."

"Quite far," Gimli said, "We needs venture through Moria to get there fastest."

"Or we could fly," Zora offered, "I seem to recall DC allowing riders on them many times."

"If you'd be willing to let us ride you it would be much appreciated," Qui-gon replied.

"Shadowfax," Gandalf called, "We are flying out of here go on home and lead your kin out of the forest."

Qui-gon and Gandalf's horses neighed and trotted out of the clearing. Zora set one of her legs so the four of them could climb on her. Gimli and Gandalf took the help, Legolas and Qui-gon just jumped up on Zora's back. Zora stood about thirteen feet tall so from her back even the trees seemed less imposing than from the ground.

"Hold on," Zora advised, "The takeoff is the hardest part for passengers."

Qui-gon used the force to hold them on as Zora took off and to keep them warm and breathing as she speed through the upper atmosphere. Communication was difficult at the speed they were traveling but Qui-gon managed to relay Gandalf's directions to Zora by giving her mind pictures of the land and where they were going. On her back they covered a distance that was almost two thirds of their journey from Minas Tirith and arrived at the foothills of the Shire that evening.

"You may want to walk the rest of the way," Gandalf said as they set up camp for the night, "Hobbits are generally gentle folk but if they see a dragon flying over their lands they might not receive you as well, especially the four that we are going to visit."

"Then we will walk," Zora said, "I would not wish to frighten them."

"It seems that the reputation of dragons being these ferocious creatures that would rather eat you as look at you is constantly being disproved," Qui-gon said, "We've seen the prowess that your kind have in battle, yet almost everyone of the dragons I've meet have been more gentle and kind than most people."

"Often it is the case that the more power one has the more merciful one ends up," Zora replied.

"Or it could be the other way around," Legolas remarked, "Perhaps the more merciful one acts the more power they accumulate."

"Or the stronger their ax is the less they have to fear from being merciful," Gimli said, "in any case it is a pointless question to ponder when there is sleep to be had." They all had a laugh at that remark, even Gimli, before swiftly taking the dwarf's advice and getting some sleep. The next morning they started the walk through the rolling hills and tall grass of the Shire in spring. As they approached the cultivated lands of the Shire, know as Hobbiton, many of the little folk gave them passing interest before deciding that they didn't want to bother a dragon if it wasn't bothering them.

"Well this is not the most friendly welcome I've received but it is much better than what I had feared," Gandalf said, "Come on Bag End is not far now. If I am right the Hobbits we are looking for should be there, or will be shortly."

"I get the impression that they do everything 'shortly' around here," Qui-gon chuckled. Gandalf smiled, Legolas laughed, Zora purred, and Gimli muttered something derogatory about the 'tall races.' Bag End was a neat little place set into the tallest hill in the area with a door as green as the surrounding grass. Out front sat four hobbits, though two of them looked marginally larger than normal.

While all the Hobbits shared the curly hair that was common for their kind, and the large furry feet, their faces were the defining features of each one. Frodo, as Gandalf introduced them once the Hobbits came running over to greet the wizard, had sparkling, if somewhat care-laden eyes on his semi-angular face and brown hair. Sam had determined eyes that spoke of a warrior's heart and a farmer's demeanor under a mop of sandy hair that sat atop his rounded face. Pippin had jovial eyes and a light brown hair that added to his clownish, but fun demeanor. Merry had eyes that spoke to his practicality yet also held the potential for mischief, his blond-ish hair set him apart from the other three as did his squarer face.

"Gandalf," Frodo greeted as the little man released the wizard from an aggressive bear hug, "Legolas, Gimli, Qui-gon, ha what warrants a visit from you all and in the company of a dragon?"

"Well we actually need to find someone that you four came across in your adventures," Gandalf replied, "A Tom Bombadil, If I recall correctly."

"Aye the spirit in the Old Forest," Pippin said, "I believe he and Goldberry still live near Withywindle river."

"Spirit," Qui-gon questioned, "That sounds old enough to read this scroll."

"Indeed it does," Gandalf replied, "I don't suppose you four are up to showing us to Tom's place?"

"Ha you can't find his house without being lost first," Merry commented, "All our interactions with him were initiated by him, not the other way round."

"I'll go," Pippin said, "There is nothing like getting lost to find adventures."

"Well if it's between wandering around in the woods for a few days or staying here tending potatoes, I'm with Pip."

"Well you two have fun," Sam said, "I've got to tend to Rosie and Elanor, and those potatoes if we want to have any chips, mashed, baked or boiled, tatters."

"Not to mention that your the Mayor," Frodo added, "I'll stay here and look after things while you two are gone, maybe stir up some trouble in you names. Gandalf if you all are heading south after your visit to Tom I may join you, it has been some time since I've seen Aragorn or Arwen and it would be nice to travel again."

"We will welcome you gladly," Gimli said, "But first isn't it about lunchtime?"

Qui-gon laughed at that, knowing how much the Hobbits like their meals, as Frodo smiled and invited them inside and warning them to watch their heads.

Character Anders

Anders and Cullen were in the gray, stone chamber that had been the main staging area for their reconstruction of Kirkwall that used to be the Viscount's throne room. Anders was a tall man with blond hair that he kept in a ponytail, white pupil-less eyes, the stubble of a beard, and generally clownish demeanor. He was wearing a blue robe with black fur lining and carried a sword-staff. Cullen had much the same appearance, except his eyes were normal and blue, his hair was cropped short, and he wore heavy armor that was fitting for the Templar.

"We are progressing well," Cullen said, "most of the lower district is completed now, and Azmodan's troops have not been seen since last spring."

"That's what makes me nervous," Anders replied, "Justice still feels the demon is here, and that means that Azmodan is plotting something."

"I just hope that the dark-spawn are not going to start following him like an arch-demon," Cullen said, "Either way we will know soon enough, Sebastian and Vern are on their way back from Amaranthine."

"You know I never really thought that you all would ever let me work with you," Anders said, "Guess ten years of being right about where demons and dark-spawn will attack has made me valuable enough to be tolerated."

Cullen laughed at that remark, "Anders I think we've all grown to actually like you and Justice over the years, even Sebastian. Hey do you know when Marion and DC will be back, we could use a few strong dragons to help rebuild the outlying areas where it is difficult to get men and supplies to."

"Do I know when a bunch of time-traveling dragons and their friends will be back sure," Anders replied with a grin, "Do I know when my wife will get home, not the foggiest idea. Until then I suggest we continue to focus on rebuilding the farms and other supply lines for our cities."

"Agreed," Cullen said as they exited the room to welcome back their old friends.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Wait Until You See What We've Come Up With

Character Tom

"I'm bored," Xarle groaned as they sat around on the ship waiting for K to call them in. Tom, Xarle, Blood-Raven, John, Cortana, Arbiter, and the Leviathans were all cooped up on the ship with Doug.

"Well lets play the silent game," Tom said, "Who can be quite the longest."

"John would win that," Pyros said, "He just kinda sits there, waiting, not moving... Is he asleep?"

"Oh yeah," Cortana said, "He's been sleeping for the past eight hours."

"Lucky blarger," Raven quipped, "Seriously we need to do something."

"Hey Doug, you got beer on this ship," Scion asked, "Cause I'm thirsty."

"Several kinds," Doug replied, "Dark brews, light brews, spicy brews, also a large assortment of wine, vodka and other spirits."

"Really," Tom said, "Well that gives me an idea."

"Oh are you thinking about," Xarle said then they both shouted, "Drunk science!"

"Doug get us some light sipping beer we could be at this for a while," Raven said, "Nothing to strong, I don't want them to actually get drunk considering we are supposed to be ready to drop into a battlefield."

"Its on its way," Doug replied, "What sort of instruments are you going to need for the science part of this?"

"Anything and everything you've got," Tom said, "This day just got awesome."

Ten minutes later Doug had brought in a cooler full of drinks and many, many pieces of scientific equipment, so in a way it was Doug's fault for the creation that they crafted over the next hour. Or that was Tom's excuse and he was sticking to it.

"Now that is impressive," Elly said as they were all standing around a two foot tall, orange, living, marshmallow frog.

"Check this out," Tom said as he cut the frog in half. The two halves grew into two frogs.

"Oh dear," Scaron muttered, "What have we done?"

"Only created the greatest renewable source of sugary goodness ever," Saphira said.

"Doug I said to get a light beer," Raven accused, "I've got to be imagining this."

"Its not imaginary," Cortana said, "Those frogs are real, and very creepy, and kind of cute."

"Hey what did I miss, oh," John said as he walked over, "What the, am I still dreaming?"

"Unfortunately no," Arbiter replied.

"Guys leave the frogs here K just summoned us," Doug said as one of his crawler forms scurried past them.

"Yes," Alverion said, "I hate waiting."

"Doug take us in," Tom said, "Ain't nothing like a full on bombardment from a spacecraft."

"On course," Doug replied, "You all are going down there still. Everyone except K's group has gotten caught up in some sort of displacement field, you all are going to find the one creating that field and prevent it from interfering."

"Race you down," Tom called as they entered the atmosphere and he jumped out of the hanger. While he was in free fall Tom focused his energies and called forth an undead Roc that speed upwards and caught him. "Yeah, woo I wasn't sure that would work."

"Tom your crazy," Xarle said from Scion's back, "But hey we like crazy."

A flock of Doug's flying forms caught up with them and guided them towards their destinations. Tom, Xarle, and Blood-Raven were going with Scion, Elly, Pyros and Kitara to help Eragon's group out, the others were heading towards Murtagh's group and Chief, Arbiter and Cortana were to assist Arya however they could. Since K and his ground based group were the only ones not in a temporal displacement he was going to continue on towards the heart of the forest. Doug's flock broke into three smaller coveys so he could facilitate communications between the groups.

"Tom you know how to fly that thing," Elly asked, "Cause we are going to go in hard, low, and fast, you'll have to keep up."

Tom threw the Roc into a steep dive, pulling up just above the tree line, and speed towards their destination. The Roc was faster and more agile than the Leviathans, so he met up with Eragon and Saphira before the others.

"Ho there," Tom called, "Are you lost?"

"No but K seems to be," Eragon replied as they hovered next to each other, "He and his team just vanished from under Arya's vision."

"Oh you've got the other way round," Tom said, "Someone threw everyone but K and his group into a temporal distortion. You all vanished from his sight."

"Then why can you interact with us," Saphira asked.

"Because we are also in the same distortion as you," Pyros replied as the others caught up to Tom.

"What the whole ship," Eragon asked as he saw Doug's flying forms.

"Yes," Doug replied, "Your from here know anyone who is powerful enough to do that?"

"Galbatorix," Eragon and Saphira answered.

"Wait you mean the old king you overthrew," Kitara said, "I how could he be back?"

"Let us land and Hawk can explain," Saphira said, "In any case we should still head towards the center of the forest. That way when this shift is undone we will be where we need to."

"Hmm... the demons did not get shifted," Raven said, "I can not feel them here."

"So there is nothing between us and the center," Tom asked.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Beast said as they glided past his head, "There is a presence here, old, insane and powerful. His energy is delicious to me."

"Ah our ship bound companions join us," Saetan greeted as they landed, "Only seven of you, let me guess, K didn't need any help."

"Got it in one," Tom said, "We are here to help take out whatever is creating the displacement that your experiencing."

"Blarg," Spyro stated, "I guess I owe you a fifty."

"Hah, I'll be happy with the satisfaction of being correct for a change," Diablo replied.

"Wait you bet on whether it was us or K that got zapped," Doug said, "and you bet against K?"

"Serve's him right I say," Malafor added.

"Enough you all," Fisher yelled, "Look we have to find this Galbatorix and fast, sitting around here isn't going to do that."

"Eragon," Hawk continued, "Tell the others to keep pushing towards the center of the forest, have Arya and whoever got sent to help her head over to Murtagh and cull the demons while we follow Eragon's directions towards this mad king."

"Right then get on you two," Geyser said, "Hawk with me."

Tom guided his Roc into the sky as the rest of the team got airborne, except Beast who could keep up with them on the ground. Once in the sky Eragon led them towards the north-east, the opposite direction that they needed to go to be at the forest's heart. Regardless the Rider and Dragon led a true and straight course to a lonely tower that was at the edge of the Dark-Wood, or perhaps the forest was at the edge of the tower.

"He is here," Eragon said, "I don't know what to expect but it is going to be the hardest fight we've encountered in a long time."

"Just get us close," Fisher said, "We will finish this abomination."

"How do you plan on doing that," Daemon asked, "This guy is powerful enough to hold back our combined power."

"That may be but is he powerful enough to not get distracted," Tom asked as he tossed an undead mine turtle into the air and caught it.

"Necromancy," Saphira said, "Of course he wouldn't expect that, it is not a natural magic in this world. Galbatorix would have no experience with it."

"Then we have a plan," Hawk said, "Tom your with us, Zar as well, everyone else go and beat that tower so hard it topples."

"So we go in and make him go boom," Tom asked.

"Yeah but only after he is concentrating on keeping his tower together," Fisher said, "Geyser, Krista you two good enough to drop us in through the window on the forth floor?"

"Of course," Krista replied, "Father we will wait until you give us the all clear."

"We're on it," Spyro replied as the rest of their group followed Beast to the tower where they promptly started to beat it with whatever spells and physical prowess they had. The tower lit up a bright black, which was weird since black doesn't glow, and absorbed the attacks with almost no visual suffering for the abuse that DC was giving it.

"Kris, Now," Spyro called and they were off.

Kris and Geyser were agile but not quite as agile as the Roc allowing Tom to beat Hawk and Fisher through the window. As Tom jumped through the opening he dispelled the Roc which crumbled back into the bone dust from which it was made. Hawk and Fisher landed behind him a few seconds later. The inside of the tower was not much to look at they were on a spiral stair case that was crafted out of the same granite that the rest of the tower was made up of. There were no torches in the tower since it was lighted by the windows, but the scones for them were scattered about the walls for when night came across the land.

"I guess we go up," Tom said.

"Great I hate stairs," Hawk complained.

"Quiet you two," Fisher whispered, "This guy probably has enhanced hearing, you know since he is part demon."

"Like I could forget him," Hawk replied.

Tom headed up the first several stairs so he could look around the curve of the tower before motioning for the bickering couple to move up. Fisher headed up and just out of sight before waving for Hawk to move up. They continued like this all the way to the top of the stairs where they were greeted by a massive door, on that would not normally be movable by the three of them, due to it being made out of stone.

"Go back down the stairs," Tom said, "stand against the outer wall two turns down. I'll join you after I set some presents for our host."

Hawk and Fisher gave him their distinctive, troublesome grins before heading down the stairs and out of the blast zone. Tom planted four mine turtles around the door and was about to leave when he heard a faint, childish voice say, "You are but one man and unschooled in the language of magic what hope do you have against me?"

Tom ignored the voice and walked down the stairs to where Hawk and Fisher were waiting, then he detonated the mines. Shrapnel from the door bounced off the wall beside them and rolled down the stairs.

"Good call," Hawk said, "Shall we?"

Tom motioned for them to remain behind him and out of sight until he could distract Galbatorix, allowing them to get in without being seen and hopefully end this Dark Prince once and for all. Tom rounded the last corner and strolled into the room. It was large and square with a throne at one end upon which rested a twisted form that watched him with cunning black orbs.

"So you are responsible for the dragons trying to beat down my tower," the figure replied, "It is useless you know, I can not die."

"So you must be Galbatorix," Tom said, "I'd thought you would be taller." Then he threw a Mine turtle at the demonic form in the throne. Galbatorix moved faster than he thought possible with the mutations and deformities that riddled his body. Some how crippled legs morphed into strong limbs and carried the king out of harms way, but also turned his back closer to the door.

It dawned on Tom that Galbatorix may not even know that Hawk and Fisher were in the structure, since he probably used his magic to sense his foes. Tom threw another three mines causing Galbatorix to be between him and the door.

"Enough," Galbatorix said and Tom was thrown against the wall above the throne, "Now I'll crush you and then I'll chain all your dragons outside to my will and rule this miserable world."

Tom couldn't breath the pressure against him was getting heavier with every second, then Fisher dashed through the door and planted her sword into the demon-man's back. Galbatorix howled and dropped Tom to slam Fisher against the back wall. The thud of her hitting the wall was followed by the wet thump of an ax embedding itself into a skull. Fisher fell off the wall only to be caught by Hawk who had come through the doorway.

"Can't be killed huh," Hawk said as he retrieved his ax and cut off the head that it had been stuck in.

The tower rocked, probably from their friends continuing to hammer it.

"We need to get out of here," Fisher said, "That window over there."

"Come on," Tom called as he ran to the window, "I'll keep us from hitting the ground."

With a smile the other two ran with him out the window. As they fell, Tom summoned the Roc again which caught them with ease.

"Ok now time to see what is really behind this invasion," Tom said.

"Nice catch," Rayon remarked as he flew past, "Just in time too."

Looking behind him, Tom saw the tower collapse. Then he was fighting for his life against three flaming specters, they had shifted back into the real world. He banished one specter, Hawk and Fisher killed another and Rayon lightning-infernoed the last one.

"You've been hanging out with D again," Hawk asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Ray replied.

Tom surveyed the area and saw that they had appeared in the middle of the demon army. They weren't alone however, Murtagh and Thorn swooped by overhead and shouted a greeting to them and K materialized beside them. It was however a few hundred, powerful as they are, against several hundred thousand. Doug started raining down fire from the Pestilence, creating a ring of death around the three groups. Beast bellowed and charged in to intercept a demon that was almost as big as he was. The SaDiablos were ripping demons to shreds with their laser-like energy beams. Spyro and clan were dispensing pain on a major level as were the Primes. The Riders were keeping the skies clear, while their Spartan friends mounted a full scale invasion of the forest's heart.

All in all Tom felt a little useless, but he had an idea that he hoped would change that. "K," He called, "When I yell down, throw a shield around us all." K nodded and went back to mechanically killing everything in his path. Tom started channeling the necromantic energies, searching through the either for the parts he was going to use. He noticed as Blood-Raven and Xarle fell back to guard him, they knew him better than any of the others so figured out he was up to something. He continued to gather energy and assemble his creation, shouts echoed around him, arrows and spells zipped by but he continued to focus on his goal. DC had fallen back to his position by now and even K was looking pained from injuries. Then it was ready.

"Down," Tom yelled. K threw up a shield without a second though as a huge turtle head plowed up through the ground followed by two legs and a shell. The demons turned to regards this new development with interest but were unconcerned then the turtle was out of the ground and ready to detonate. Tom smiled as he figuratively pressed the detonator and the 500K megaton bomb exploded. It must have been slightly more powerful than Tom had thought because even through the shield they were knocked down by the shock wave.

"Tom," RuGaard shouted or Tom assumed he shouted everything sounded muted, "A little warning would have been nice."

"That is certainly one way to get rid of them," Moroni remarked.

"Tom," Doug said, "You need to get back to the ship and get your experiment under control."

"What the frog," Tom asked.

"Frogs," Doug replied, "there are about a thousand of them now."

"Frogs," AuRon asked, "are they tasty?"

"Oh wait until you see them," Tom replied as his ears popped and his hearing returned to normal, "They are delicious."

Character Kalathanon

"So I leave you alone up here for a few hours and you fill the ship with mallow frogs," K commented as he watched the sugary creatures hop across the hall and into one of the hangars.

"Basically," Tom replied, "Why?"

"Oh just curious as to why you thought it would be a good idea to make a living marshmallow in the shape of a frog," K replied, "Doug think we can get some of these guys to the ships with non-flood crew, I'm sure they would love the treat."

"Your joking right," Doug replied, "No? I'll see what I can do."

"You know when I first heard that you were out to fight The Lucifer, I figured you for a crazy one," Tom remarked, "Glad to see I was right."

"About that. How do you know of Lucifer," K asked.

"Old tomes, older probably than Sanctuary itself," Tom replied with a look of profound, scholarly admiration, "Tomes that it is said are from before time itself, scattered across the universes to reveal the will of the Great Creator to all his creation. Or that's the story anyways."

"God's hand at work again it seems," K responded.

"Indeed," Tom added, "Your a strange one you know. I can feel that you believe in God but not out of a conviction or faith, you have more of a knowledge about you."

"I can see why you are a necromancer Tom," K said as he led the way down a less frog infested hall, "Your astuteness does you credit."

"K have you seen Terrador," Ace asked as the blood dragon walked across their path.

"No but Doug can lead us to him," K replied, "How do you like the accommodations?"

"They suit me I think," Ace answered, "The starkness of this ship reflects my own situation, I'm a clean slate, if you will."

"I understand that feeling," Tom said, "K you find out where Terrador is yet?"

"He is in the forth floor sparring room, with Blitz and Wistala," Doug answered, "It's like a green frenzy, you might want to get down there before DharSii laughs himself to death watching them.

"Sounds interesting," Tom said, "But I'm more interested in you Kalathanon. Kalathanon, Kala-than-on. There is something about your name, like an echo to it. A reminder of what once was?"

"You wish to know my past," K said, "Understandable, but know this once I tell you what your are asking for there is no going back."

"I have nothing to go back to," Ace said.

"The only two people that I ever cared about are here," Tom added, "Get on with your story, besides the forth floor is a long way down."

"Very well," K agreed, "All I ask is you do not repeat this unless I approve it." They nodded and K continued. "Before time, or eternity even, there was God. He chose to be good because it was his right to do so. In His goodness He created the heavens, eternity, and beings to be his servants and friends. Fourteen of those many beings were the Leviathans, the original Leviathans, one of which I am. The fourteen of us were Scaron, Elantra, Pyros, Kitara, Scion, Elly, Alverion, Saphira, Lucifer, Mammon, Celantra, and myself."

"Whoa wait," Ace interrupted, "Lucifer is a Leviathan?"

"Yes," K answered, "And my twin brother. At the time my name was Kal, Justice. When Lucifer, Mammon, Moroni, Baal, Ashera, Moloch and I fell I became Kalthan, Condemnation. Now I am Kalathanon, Judgment. I don't know how long I was Kalthan, but one day when we had thought our victory assured, as the Son of God lay dead with the sins of the world bearing Him away from God... He won. Jesus, that is his name, and he brushed aside our army, pushed open our gates and offered us, us The Enemy redemption. At the time I think I was the only one dark enough to see what the others could not, I caught the tiniest glimpse of what could have been, of what God could have done had he chose another path, and for the first time ever I was afraid. I accepted his redemption and emerged as the King of the Leviathans, a title I still command. United with C again we ruled our empire, waged war against the Giants, watched as our race died and universes came and went, C was taken from me for her own good, and I... I was death to many a universe before I found this one, one where I found a life worth living again, but that brings us to your destination, and I am interested as to why you want to talk with Terrador, he is not one for conversations."

"Zora wanted me to say hello to him for her," Ace replied.

"Zora, I've heard him mention her before but never got to ask him who she is," K said as he pushed open the hangar door, "Should be interesting."

Inside DharSii was practically paralyzed trying to hold in his amusement at the outcome of Terrador, Blitz, and Wistala's sparring match. Terrador and Blitz were both pinned under Wistala's forelegs while she relaxed on top of them.

"K a great sight is it not," DharSii remarked as he noted their entrance.

"K not a word to Spyro about this," Terrador said flatly.

"You two know that Tala is heavier than any of you Avalar dragons, her scales are made of pure metal, Yours are a composite growth that allows for lighter weight flying but is not as good in an arm wrestle," Tom said, "Tala might I say your looking fine today."

"See this is why I like you," Ace said, "Always a ladies man."

"Yeah well that's my lady your talking about," DharSii commented.

Tala laughed as she let Blitz and Terrador up. "You know out of all of us siblings your definitely the most unique," she said to Ace.

"Thanks sis," Ace replied, "Terrador, you know a Zora?"

"Zora," Terrador whispered, "She's my mate."

"Oh well she says hi and wanted to let you know that she will be joining up with us soon."

"She what," Terrador shouted.

"What he means to say is that Zora has been dead for a long time," Blitz added.

"Well so was I," Ace replied, "Nice person, your mate. Thanks to Zora I can talk, reason, and am proficient in fighting, and basically everything else I can do I learned from her."

"Joining us," K asked, "How?"

"Middle Earth," Ace answered, "We are heading there to pick up this Qui-gon fellow right? She is there waiting for us."

"Well then we had better get underway," Terrador said, "Last time I was late for something she arranged I got the evil eye for years."

"Hey guys your going to want to see this," Doug said, "Grif just challenged Xarle to a mallow frog eating contest. We are taking bets on it too."

"Ten bucks on Grif," Tala remarked, "Come on Terrador we wouldn't want you to get all weepy on us."

"Doug get us underway," K said, "I'll go see about taking care of our infestation problem."

They followed Doug's directions to the dinning hall where Doug had set up tables for the competition. Grif was at one, Xarle at the other and lines of the toasted, sugary, frogs provided by Flame and Ember. K settled in for a good show as both Grif and Xarle could put sugar away at record speeds. As the competition got underway K felt the Pestilence enter warp drive and speed towards their next destination.

"He is lucky to be part demon," Diablo said as he sat down next to K, "He won't gain weight from this, but he will be miserable if he eats to many."

"He also doesn't know Grif very well since he accepted the challenge," Tyreal added from K's right.

"Actually I talked them both into it," Tom said, "I'm hoping that between them I can control the frogs."

The four of them continued bantering for the duration of the contest, which lasted for a surprising amount of time, a good ten minutes until Xarle threw in the towel.

"That's three for Xarle," Ignitus said, "Grif is on five."

"How do you do that," Xarle asked.

Grif didn't say anything just moved on to the sixth frog. K got the impression that they were nearing Middle Earth and was reading to call the contest when a red, spastic, portal opened up before Tyreal.

"Its Cain," Tyreal said, "He needs help."

"Go," K said, "Take who you need."

"We are in," Tom said, "Diablo you and yours coming too?"

"Hmm help someone who stopped our plans," Diablo growled, "Well we are doing that a lot these days. Yeah why not?"

"That's the spirit," Tom said, "I'll go get the rest, K good luck with... well just come back and get us after you done with this planet your heading to."

As Tom ran off K stood beside Tyreal and Diablo, "Never thought I'd see the day when you are both going out of your own accord to accomplish the same goal. Be careful that portal is unstable there might be others that get sucked in to it."

"Well then they will be in fine company," Blood-Raven said as she and the others followed Tom over to the Portal where everyone had gathered, except Grif who was on his eleventh frog.

"Will Deckard be able to cast the portal again," K asked before his friends went through.

"Not likely," Malafor said, "It seems to be loosely tied to Tyreal and is unstable at best."

K handed Diablo a scale from his hide, "When you all are done you know how to reach me. Good luck and God speed."

Diablo took the scale nodded to K and walked through the portal followed by the other seven, Baal, Mephisto, Malafor, Tyreal, Raven, Xarle, and Tom.

"K," Celantra said, "We are here."

K looked over at her as the portal closed, "So we are, Grif leave off on the frogs for now, everyone else lets get planet side."


End file.
